Hailing from Wokingham, UK, 4-piece RUBY DAWN according to their press release, “Performs hypnotic powerful and ambient grooves with a social conscience, creating a rich and unique progressive rock sound that weaves emotional intensity with captivating lyrical expressions and goosebump heart pounding drive”.
After listening to their new album “Blood On Water” we can affirm that blurb can’t be more accurate. This is the second record from this female fronted prog band, and not, fortunately it isn’t just another modern sympho-female stuff.
What we really enjoyed from RUBY DAWN is their impressive musicality: while their songs are progressive rock in the traditional sense, the many shifts in tempo are created in a muscular way, the guitar roars, hard, resulting in an effective contrasting effect.
And yes, not only all members are excellent musicians, they compose some superlative songs too.
”Blood On Water” opens up with the gigantic “Juliet”. The cool, slow grinding guitars in an almost lonely, distant, slow, direction, create a desperate sound. Then, Carola Baer sings, with that Janis Joplin-reminiscent voice. She sounds sad, but full of energy as she sings, “Juliet, I never wanted this mess. I fought them instead. I was blinded by rage. Missed out on your grace”. A song of deep regret, which you can hear in bucketloads, from Carola singing the lyrics.
A deep and powerful song to kick off this excellent album. Dave Salsbury’s heavy electric lead guitar solos are immaculate. Off to a convincing start!
“Arms of Love”, is another full of emotion, powerhouse from Ruby Dawn. Carola opens it with vocal vibrations, along with strings, and then they add deep piano. Carola sings, “Wish I had a home. Cold on the street. Rather be in the arms of love, than in those of war”. More masterful guitar from Salsbury, then Carola sings, “We speak many languages, but there’s only one, we all hear and feel the same. Come to the table of solutions”. A crying out to the world to sit down and hear each other’s perspectives and try to work things out, rather than kill each other. A powerful anti-war song, full of desperation for the arms of love.
Slight change of pace, in that the bass takes the leadership role here, guiding what sounds like a perfect segue to the preceding dark sensibility, “Alice Come Home“, the ongoing search for a Wonderland, as if the famed tale is on par with a utopian Shangri-La, sadly still remaining nothing more than a fantasy. Home is where the heart is.
“Blood on Water” is the title track, and also one of the most powerful songs on the album. Opens with powerful drums, keyboards, bass and powerful lead electric guitar. Carola, really draws your heart close with her singing these lines, “I need, I need, I need more peace. Say it, I need, I need, more love. Don’t fall from grace”. She sings, “Connect to the light of life. Leave the apple where it is”. Then Salsbury absolutely electrifies the soundscape with a blistering lead guitar solo.
“Social Disaster”, is full of keyboards and deep bass, at its opening. A rambling outrage at the icy cold and calculated oppression, where values vanish daily, where confusion, bitterness and even surrender are at the forefront, fuelling division and conflict. ‘Walking on thin ice and the road to shame’, she exhorts frantically. And we have progressed? Really? Maybe in technology but not much else. The guitars rasp, the keyboards grind, the bass carves deep, and the percussion is intransigently concussive. Dave launches into a phosphorescent solo that burns uncontrollably.
No respite on “Easy Feels”, the brooding electronics only adding a futuristic feel that does not bode well for hopeful imagery. When two repeated words like ‘How Long’ are used with such anguish, its not because the Internet is slow! Unhappy voice, depressed piano, forlorn pulse, as the arrangement rises in angst and submission, the blazing fretboard particularly on fire, grey gothic clouds on the horizon, cold Valhalla winds blowing in.
“Chronicles of a Celestial Soul”, opens with deep piano keys, eerie orchestration and programming, and then Carola’s best vocals, so far. The instrumental work is extraordinary, especially with Adam Perry athletically scaling all kinds of rhythmic heights to give the others the juice necessary to spew out their inner expressions to the fullest. Breathtaking.
“Maker of Me”, has a wonderful soft keyboard opening with a stringed chorus of orchestrated violin in support. Carola sings, “Come on, stand, close to me. Maker of me what have you made, that you keep a dark veil over it, and hang it over me?” An ode to lack of connection or even miscommunication in a gentler oasis in the middle of the ocean, perhaps influencing the magnificent cover art. Darn, that voice is sooooo special, dripping with pent-up emotion.
Coming across like a glorious reminder of flowery times far in the past, the Janis Joplin feel of “Run Rabbitt” is apparent, a bluesy rock and roll anthem with something to say, easily imaginable in a live setting, the crowd swaying to the lilting melody. Its definitely escapist, urging freedom, liberation and sunshine. A positive message, yet still troubled, panacea not yet delivered.
“Nothing Left to Say”, opens with beautiful piano and soft strings and orchestration. Carola, almost starts this one off with a whisper. Then she bellows with unchecked power, as the guitar twirls like whirling dervish, in another realm altogether. Bluesy prog-rock at its finest, shiver me timbers!
A fitting finale, “This Garden” perhaps epitomizes all the intrinsic qualities of this incredible powerful and thinking release (not really releasing but rather revealing, lots of inner pain). The ornate piano and hushed voice plaintively reflect on the universe of eternity, the pace ethereal and galactic, the upward spiraling vortex guiding us towards some perpetual light, a revelation of what the spirit demands of thinking artists who aim higher than all the worthless banter that currently engulfs our ‘modern’ age. Enlightenment cannot come without wisdom.
”Blood On Water” is an excellent progressive rock album, plenty of musicality but also powerful feelings and emotions that reach out to us, for change. The desire to bring back empathy and feeling, to a world that at times feels devoid of all caring. Carola’s vocals cry for us to warmly wrap our arms around each other and comfort the world from all the pain that fills it.
This music is what you need to help remind you of what some people still believe is possible. In the end, Carola and Ruby Dawn, ask us to help take the blood from the water, and relieve the plight of this world, of violence and indifference.
This album is not a playful joyride, laden with pretty pastoral inanities, flaky discourse or false pretenses. It’s a tough listen, one that echoes certain realities, the utter frailty of the human spirit, bruised and beaten into submission by endless algorithmic assaults. And musically, ”Blood On Water” has twists, surprises, even bluesy moments.
HIGHLY Recommended
Tracklist:
01. Juliet
02. Arms of Love
03. Alice Come Home
04. Blood on Water
05. Social Disaster
06. Easy Feels
07. Chronicles of a Celestial Soul
08. Maker of Me
09. Run Rabbit
10. Nothing Left to Say
11. This Garden
Line Up:
Carola Baer - Keyboards, Vocals
Dave Salsbury - Guitars
Ian Turner - Bass
Adam Perry - Drums
Ruby Dawn – Blood on Water (2024)
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