Band:	Ruby The Hatchet
Album:	Aurum
Style:	Stoner rock
Release date:	May 26, 2015
A review by:	R'Vannith

01. Paralyzed
02. Taking Sides
03. Black Tongue
04. Can't Get Him Away
05. Holy Father
06. The Lean
07. Wicked Ones
08. Good God Damn
09. Eliminator

Aurum is a recap of the successes that brought Philadelphia's Ruby The Hatchet to their latest release in Valley Of The Snake. As a compilation, it is comprised of the band's choice tunes from their debut record Ouroboros placed between the two taken from their following EP entitled The Eliminator. In essence, it's an energised stoner rock summary when compared to the new material of their sophomore.

The direction that Ruby The Hatchet took in Valley Of The Snake was previously established in "Eliminator," the nine-minute majority of last year's abovementioned EP and featured on Aurum as the finale. It served as an indication of significantly lengthier tracks and an increased metallic tone that the band has carried on with to build the bulk of Valley Of The Snake. Although that material isn't represented on this compilation, their new record makes a marked difference and transition when considered against what preceded it - as is neatly selected from and packaged in Aurum.

The style of the tracks compiled here is of an engagingly upbeat and blues inflected stoner rock variety that's raw in reverb and lightly layered with psych elements, all being forwarded by the charismatic vocal performance of Jillian Taylor. While inevitably drawing comparisons to a number of other female-fronted retro-rock outfits of the likes of Black Moth and Blues Pills, Taylor's presence is distinctive enough so as to grant Ruby The Hatchet their own voice on the scene.

That it is a deliberately retrograde style places certain limitations on originality, yet, as derivative as Ruby The Hatchet are, they seek to bring their own personality to a consciously familiar form of rock. The short duration of the tracks of this compilation are a welcome reflection of their past preference for concisely rock stylised songs, rather than the elongated and doom metal influenced efforts of more recently written material released on Valley Of The Snake, most especially the near nine-minute expanse of "Tomorrow Never Comes." The band's ability to work variety into their repertoire is sufficiently represented in Aurum alone, from its more lively numbers in "Taking Sides" and riff rolling off "Black Tongue," past the brief organ enshrouded blues of "Holy Father" and ending with the climactic and enduring "Eliminator." In its runtime, the tracks are ordered to add sufficient variance to the listen.

As a compilation, Aurum best captures the sound of the band prior to any stylistic change from their origins in stoner rock of purer vein. It successfully arranges the prime of Ruby The Hatchet's pre-Valley Of The Snake material and demonstrates the variety already established in their fashionably derivative style.