Ruby The Hatchet

Ruby the Hatchet fuses ominous hard-rock riffs with occult-tinged psychedelia, yielding a spellbinding strain of cosmic rock that feels both luminous and foreboding. Their command of menacing guitar lines, thunderous percussion, and organ-accented grooves reached a new level of sophistication across the 2017 release Planetary Space Child and the expansive 2022 full-length Fear Is a Cruel Master.

The group first coalesced during informal basement rehearsals in New Jersey around 2011 and soon shifted operations to Philadelphia. Core personnel included guitarist Johnny Scarps, drummer Owen Stewart, bassist Mike Parise, and keyboardist Sean Hur, while frontwoman Jillian Taylor supplied the band’s signature wail and expressive range. Alongside relentless live performances, they maintained an active recording pace that began with a self-titled EP in 2011 and continued with the debut album Ouroboros the following year.

In 2014 the band issued multiple editions of the single “The Eliminator,” one of which appeared as a limited run housed inside a wooden box containing assorted found objects. Those efforts paved the way for the 2015 album Valley of the Snake, which plunged further into a raw, stoner-rock-inflected aesthetic. Two years afterward they placed their third long-player, Planetary Space Child, with Teepee Records. Their fourth studio album, Fear Is a Cruel Master, arrived in 2022 and showcased heightened intensity, cleaner production, and more intricate arrangements than any prior work.