Classic stoner rock idioms adorn Ruby The Hatchet's sound like medals on a uniform: the arena-ready howling from a very talented Jillian Taylor, the blues / sludge inflected Zeppelin riffs, a larger than life production effort and plenty of hooks scattered 'round like ashes. That latter area in particular is something these guys have in spades that many of today's hard rock throwbacks struggle a bit with: memorability. It's why neither Elder nor Bell Witch nor even Pallbearer made my list this year: too much emphasis on the jamming and not enough thought into the songwriting. Yet here's a band as heavy as any of those three yet can put together a rollicking single like 'Killer' (complete with a goddamn Hammond organ) and make it look easy. Funny how that works.

Doom-anything and the bands that revolve tangentially around the genre in 2017 is a crowded place to be (especially if you spend any time on Bandcamp) but the best will always rise to the top. For me this year, that's Ruby The Hatchet in all their retrotastic glory. Bon apetit....