US / THEM: AURALAYER streaming forthcoming debut LP in full early via Decibel Magazine

"Primed to become your next favorite band." -- Metal Sucks

"An absolute joy to listen to and perhaps one of the most inventive albums to be released this year." -- Outlaws of the Sun

"Think the early days of Red Fang, when every chord and note was dripping with urgency, but with, one hand, a dash of progginess thrown in and, on the other, a dollop of sludgy sweetness that makes one think of Torche." -- Heavy Blog is Heavy

“Auralayer blend doom and guitar-forward pop sensibilities, capturing the decade from ’95 to 2005 when a generation of sing-along sludge blossomed from grunge’s demise.” — Decibel Magazine

Auralayer, the visionary and captivating power trio out of Greenville, SC, are streaming their forthcoming raucous debut album, Thousand Petals, ahead of release today via Decibel Magazine. Hear/share Thousand Petals HERE.

Metal Sucks recently launched the single HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.) Heavy Blog is Heavy recently hosted the debut of the official video for "You Walk" HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

Delivering a unique blend of powerful doom riffs, kinetic progressive rock drums, and electrifying pop-inspired melodies, Thousand Petals is impressively heavy and undeniably catchy.

The band’s signature brand of metal comes from its members’ diverse musical interests. “I’m really into doom, especially bands like High on Fire,” says guitarist Thomas Powell. “Vladimir, the drummer, is really into progressive rock, and his favorite drummer is Neil Peart. And Jake, our bassist, really likes pop music—The Beatles and Talking Heads.” Thanks to those disparate influences, the band is largely unencumbered by typical doom and stoner rock clichés during the writing phase—a fact that has helped them develop their own original metal sound.

To help them harness their energetic musical vision, the band recruited Philip Cope, the founder of the experimental metal band Kylesa, to engineer, mix, and master their debut at Jam Room Recording Studio in Columbia, SC. As with Kylesa, Cope helped to capture and channel the band’s diverse influences and experimentation into a cohesive sonic palette—on both the debut album and the band’s 2021 Solar Plexus EP.

“Phil has had a huge influence on me as an artist,” says Powell, “so it was great having him around. He’s just as passionate about our music as we are, so it almost feels like he’s part of the band. And since he’s worked on so many cool projects, like the first Baroness album, he has so many cool perspectives and great attention to detail, and that really helped us capture the sound we were going for.”

Despite the band’s collective encyclopedic knowledge of music, the trio has also pulled inspiration from a variety of artistic and philosophical sources—while still maintaining a unified final product. The album title, for example, comes from the Sahasrara padma, the crown chakra that translates to “the lotus of a thousand petals” and is symbolic of supreme consciousness and enlightenment.

Thousand Petals comes after the success of the band’s original demo EP, Solar Plexus (also inspired by Eastern cultures and the Chakra Manipura), which was released on August 13, 2021. All three songs from that demo—“Christ Antler,” “Faith to Reason,” and “All My Time” — have been sharpened and honed onto Thousand Petals.

Thousand Petals will be available on LP, CD and download on July 14th, 2023 via King Volume Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.

AURALAYER LIVE 2023:

07/26 Greenville, SC - Radio Room w/ Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol, Crobot