Ruby the Hatchet - Valley of the Snake (2015)

Philadelphia psychedelic doom bringers Ruby The Hatchet are one of heavy music's finest on-the-rise bands. Evoking a decade's worth of maturity gained in just a few short years, the genesis from the band's 2011 self-titled EP to present day has been nothing short of stunning. The group's music fuses the sinister tactic of brainwash with blistering riffs and the rebellious mood of sorcery, re-imagining a different path for metal. ''Valley of the Snake'' is a six song journey; a fantastical trek with huge, blistering tracks that journey over peaks and valleys and ditches and oceans before leaving you spinning. Seething and spitting, Ruby The Hatchet hammers behemoth waves of dogma and doom, merging precision and patience with a sinister foot-stomping, head-bobbing power. Vocalist Jillian Taylor's serpentine vocals, scene-stealing howls and macabre lyrics conjure holistic atmospheres over swollen grooves that grow and flow in circles and waves. Guitars crunch, wail and burn. Heavy-handed and hypnotic in equal parts, Ruby The Hatchet creates the perfect shape shift between psych density and metal grandiosity, representing something utterly imposing; primeval and oppressively heavy while maintaining a level of breathless intensity over the course of the full album. This hex is for you.