Ruby The Hatchet – Fear Is A Cruel Master
Release Date: 21st October 2022
Label: Magnetic Eye Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Psych, Stoner Rock.
FFO: Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath, Graveyard, Heart.
Review By: Anthony Petitt
Arriving half a decade after their previous release, Fear Is A Cruel Master is the newest work from psychedelic rock band Ruby The Hatchet. The record (recorded in my home state of New Jersey) doesn’t mess around. It starts with The Change, a great choice for a first song. The riffs are memorable and emotion-filled, and vocalist Jillian Taylor delivers catchy lines with echoes of Stevie Nicks. The subtle keyboards do a lot to fill out the song and keep it interesting as well.
Deceiver fills your ear-holes with some tasty blues guitar licks, and a grand chorus, one of the group’s trademarks. The vocals bring a breeziness to the hard-hitting instrumentation, and I’m particularly fond of the ambient-ish outro. Classic Rock and Doom meet on Primitive Man, but it’s not nearly as Doomy as the dirge-like 1000 Years, which is a nice slow burn that contrasts the previous songs on the record. Fear Is A Cruel Master offers a decent amount of variety in it’s eight songs.
A bluesy bass line serves as the core of the beautifully haunting Soothsayer. With the floating and flowing vocals and instruments, the song makes for a great listen. Thruster is a no B.S., straight ahead rock single, with a classic spooky vibe thanks to the guitar and organ riff combo. Last Saga provides the album with even more variety, in the form of a ballad. The song, a 6/8 waltz, feels like the Middle Ages were put into a blender with the 70s. Guitar player Johnny Scarps captured a great tone for this song, and Taylor’s heavily reverbed delivery of “Who’s gonna love you now?” is a true ear-worm of a hook. The final song of Fear Is A Cruel Master is Amor Gravis, another change-up. The intro sports some borderline thrashy drumming, but overall the song is probably the weakest on the album, which is not exactly what you aim for with your final track. With that being said, any band would be proud to add an album of this quality to their discography. 
(4.5 / 5)
