Power outage - Linux server is stuck at 'Failed to execute /sbin/init : Input/output error"

As the title states, this server is stuck at that stage upon bootup after a power outage. I did attempt to rescue via rescue media; replaced systemd with the rescue media's systemd, but still stuck there.

`smartctl` appears to report no issues with the disk, when I ran it during rescue. Generally, with i/o errors it usually points to hardware, right?

Is there any other place I should be looking at? I'm fairly certain grub is uncorrupted as it still loads the initramfs and gets to systemd.

EDIT:

Here is how the boot screen looks like, with 'rhgb quiet' removed from the grub config:

https://imgur.com/a/jGzFi6J

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UPDATE 2 :

Got the exact same SSD, did a dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb status=progress, and also tried with conv=noerror,sync - both behaving the exact same way with the original SSD. Safe to rule out this isn't a hardware issue?