Airbrushed pink and invoking the Crown chakra, which (just sayin’) is typically violet, and intending to find a pure form of consciousness in connection with the universal mind Greenville, South Carolina-based stoner rock/doom metal trio Auralayer might give the visual read of a kundalini-machine in motion yet the grunge-era stoner rock and doom metal they’ve sewn into this ‘ready accomplished bout of spaced yet mindful songwriting has its own sorta recognizable boogie n’ ache to it up front. ‘Thousand Petals‘ builds its repertoire from variously hedonistic, existential and enlightened parts which amount to a belly-rubbing beast of a heavy rock record with all manner of electric energy coursing through, landing its appeal as a record outside of time and a little too wise for its years. If you can handle just how accessible they lean there’ll be a fairly substantial modern doom-adjacent stoner rock record to hug up on herein.

Auralayer formed circa 2020, presumably as refuge from mass pandemia though there is no indication that the record they’ve come up with here was the result of containment so much as the common ground they’d found under the general guidelines of heavy rock music prone to slippage into alt-rock territory and early 90’s doom metal trundling. What we find on ‘Thousand Petals‘ today was more-or-less already well founded by late 2021 when the band shared their first EP (‘Solar Plexus‘, 2021) already displaying clear-as-day radio readiness with three pieces that’ve managed to be major highlights for this LP left relatively unchanged. The mix on those versions is a bit different on the LP otherwise delivers on exactly what those songs had promised. The walking n’ jogging basslines of “All My Time”, the pensive psychedelic doom groove of “Christ Antler” and the big-ass Sabbathian bossing (see also: Pale Divine) of “Faith to Reason” make up the bulk of Side A on ‘Thousand Petals‘ essentially giving a grunge-era touch to psychedelic doom metal songs, not exactly Trouble circa 1990 but probably entirely palatable to anyone who was there when that’d happened.

Skill, style and songcraft are the bulk of the conversation to be had around a new band like this and much like Restless Spirit we have a mix of classic heavy rock, doom, and stoner influences which aren’t hyper specific and have a “now” touch, an it factor that comes from the soul-applied songwriting moreso than the stylized sub-genre niche craft at hand. Thought they aren’t self-consciously calculated at a glance Auralayer are observably skilled, virtuosic in the delivery of each line they present despite their ideal centering around taste for the textures of buzzing heavy rock yesterdays, simple-yet-effective popular rock melodies and the clever nonchalance of stoner rock/metal of a certain era. We could hone in one parts of their sound that might appeal directly to fans of circa ’95 Fu Manchu (see: “Monstrum”, “All My Time”) first since that best describes the energy available here on ‘Thousand Petals‘ while also suggesting the slight Sabbath groove in hand.

Otherwise most will pick up on the ‘Blues for the Red Sun‘-level buzz which crisps the edges of certain songs and helps liken Auralayer‘s core sound to the legions of late 90’s/early 2000’s stoner music records those bands would go on to inspire without overlooking the clear infusion of “alternative rock” adjacency which we find in every song they write. In that case we should probably be eyeballing the first Baroness album or an old copy of The Sword‘s underrated ‘Age of Winters‘ for precedence instead of fawning over the throwback fuzz metal of the early 90’s, though, especially when striking into opener “The Lake” where we find spaced-out psychedelic rock leads which continue to fire off for the whole of Side A. If you’re not feeling the ‘grunge’ mentions, check out the sombre melody of “Shelf Black” and the while taking note of the bassist just generally commanding a lot of this record stick in mind with his work; Side B stomps around a bit and treads water with “Peacemonger” and “You Walk” of the bat before salvaging the droop in the second half with the last two pieces: The prog-grunge psych swells of “Dance to Trash” the impressive full-range barn burning closer “Monstrum”. Overall it should be clear enough that the strongest material these folks have come up with is set right up front and the less engaging stuff hits nearby the end.

When I’d first picked up this record it was certainly a hype-worthy event from my point of view, the first several songs all hit in a row and it felt like the album went somewhere within these nine songs. For a heavy rock record that feeling of momentum yet sustains above average thus far and my enthusiasm hasn’t waned after well over twenty spins. Though I was able to walk back some that that excitement for a few pieces which are fairly standard or less ingenious than others, ‘Thousand Petals‘ does everything right for a debut, makes an excellent first impression with a fine grip of songs to get lost in. Between their tuneful nature and the scuzzed fast-jammed feeling of their movement helping the skill level of the band shine through Auralayer‘ve hit me with a rare energy, a wizened and stoney clash of inspiration with a bit of fire between the eyes that conjures far more inventive action than most. A high recommendation.

---