Marcus Gad & Tribe – Ready For Battle

In the spring of 2017, New Caledonian singer/songwriter Marcus Gad and his band Tribe released their critical acclaimed first full-length album titled Chanting. Not only reggae connoisseurs were impressed by the music on the masterful 13-track album, also fans of well-produced reggae music embraced the deep roots collection. Since the success of this album, Marcus Gad has continued to offer noteworthy projects. In 2020, his sophomore album Rhythm Of Serenity was released. This modern roots album, which surpassed expectations, was the result of teaming up with Lustre Kings Productions – the ‘Kings’ of Zion I Kings. Towards the end of 2021, the Brave New World album was released, a project done in collaboration with French beatmaker Tamal that musically mingled urban beats and modern sounds with traditional instruments.

Organic Reggae

At the beginning of 2023, Marcus Gad offers a brand new album titled Ready For Battle on which he, just like on his debut set, is accompanied by his group of musicians Tribe. This project has been recorded as a live album, with all the musicians playing together and at the same time as opposed to method of individual studio sessions. As those who are familiar with the Chanting project can imagine, it means that he makes a return to more organic reggae. Something that doesn’t differ from the three previous albums is the fact that lyrically he continues to bring a strong and conscious message in his songs. This is instantly clear when you listen to the powerful album opener and title track, Ready For Battle. Marcus Gad invites the listener to fight for the planet and to fight against the manipulations of multi-nationals and governments. He calls for a battle, not war, but for resistance to a model that he considers outdated. With this first song, he clearly sets the tone for the rest of this album which is a call for solidarity instead of clinging to the individualism in our world.

Recurring Themes

In the remaining 13 tracks one witnesses recurring themes that Marcus Gad approaches through his music. They deal with spiritual conscience, collective awakening about the urgent need to change our way of living, and praise of nature. No weak or mediocre track is heard throughout this album, it’s all pure class – vocally, musically, and lyrically. When you put such a strong and powerful song as Ready For Battle at the head of an album, you’re almost sure that it keeps attentions focused and people want to hear more. And that’s exactly what happens here. Of course, almost inevitable there are a few songs included that you listen to one time, and only one time, because you don’t like them instantly. However, make sure to give them a few spins, because it might change your immediate judgement. Anyway, each and every track has its own merit and it’s an utterly joy to listen to all of them more than once. Of particular interest are definitely the potentially album giants The Levee, Mind Power, Reflexion, and False Prophets. Mind you, mentioning these four tracks doesn’t imply that these are the only standouts on this set. A few others can also be qualified as such, but we leave that up to you.

Although 2023 has just started, it’s safe to state that this is one of the biggest reggae albums of the year.