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Ruby The Hatchet – Valley Of The Snake (Tee Pee)

April 20, 2015 by A.S. Van Dorston

Ruby The Hatchet - Valley Of The Snake (Tee Pee, 2015)I got this from Bandcamp back in February, and has been a heavy presence on my 2015 playlist ever since. The actual CD came in the mail just yesterday and reminded me that I hadn’t properly written about it yet.  I really hate to lead off “female fronted.” Yes, I did write a feature focusing on bands lead by women back in 2012, and I did so simply because they were great bands that mostly were not getting enough attention and respect at the time. Since then, many of the bands have grown in stature and popularity. But I wouldn’t say the selling point should be solely because they’re lead by women. It’s just as stupid as saying, “hey, you’re a dude, I bet you’d like this band cuz they’re lead by a dude.” A lot of the better heavy psych bands lately do feature women, like Purson, Blood Ceremony, Jess & the Ancient Ones, Mansion and The Oath, but gender is not the key factor to their greatness. Ruby The Hatchet’s Jillian Taylor is an accomplished singer, and her abilities have matured since their 2012 debut Ouroboros.  Harmonies provided sometimes from drummer Owen Stewart, other times multi-tracked with herself, bring to mind Fleetwood Mac along the lines with Royal Thunder. However their biggest influence of late sounds like the garage psych of Britain’s Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, to the point where “Vast Acid” might be a direct tribute.  It might be hard to tell from the muddy sound and the hair in their faces, but there are no women in that band.

The guitar fuzz and organ elements are psychedelic, but nod to roots in blues rock, proto-metal and prog, with a small amount of doom except for “Tomorrow Never Comes,” a lumbering 8:49 behemoth and dooms the fuck out like, well, there’s no tomorrow. Appropriately, “The Unholy Behemoth” extends the heavy vibe with a dirgey but insistent riff, that picks up to boogie tempo toward the last third. If there’s anything to criticize, it would be that the lengthy songs (averaging close to seven minutes) might induce moments of zone-out. However live some may be extended even further and be considered concert highlights. So it depends on what you’re looking for, but the band can certainly do catchy, with “Heavy Blanket” featuring hooky melodies as catchy as “Vast Acid.” The acoustic driven title track closes out the album, taking its time to unfold, reaching a suitably rocking crescendo, laced with ghostly, almost dubby flutes. It’s a satisfying conclusion, while still leaving just a bit of room to impress and grow into a truly top tier band in the future. They’re well on their way.

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