Auralayer : "Thousand Petals"

 One thing I like about this time of year is it is when I get to catch up on bands I might have missed. This band from Greenville is one of those that passed under my radar. They are a stoner rock band that flirts with metal at times, at least on the opening track. The sung vocals have a retro feel. "All My Time" is a straight-ahead rocker, but "Christ Antler" recalls when grunge became more adventurous in the mid-nineties, and puts the band in a more unique sonic space. The drumming works really well on this one. 

"Faith to Reason' has more stomp to it, but sounds like it would have come from any band playing bars in the mid-90s. A heavier riff crops up with more chug to it but the rule here is... cool riffs alone does not a good song make. 'Shelf Black" sounds like if the Foo-fighters were depressed alcoholics who did not care if they were played on the radio. On a song like "Peacemonger," you might roughly trace it back to the Black Sabbath influence, but most of this lies in the fuzzed-out guitar tone. 

They might call themselves "power doom" but a song like "You Walk" is grunge, with more of a Melvins meets Soundgarden-like attitude. "Dance to Thrash" has more movement to it, that roughly explores a rumbling punk feel. The last song launches into a more driven punk-fueled version of what they do. While this band is onto something here, they need to place the focus on the more interesting grunge sounds they touched. I will give this album an 8, as it takes more steps in the right places than not.