When our 20-year-old son starts going on about “aura” this and “aura” that, we have no idea what he’s talking about. All we can think of is mood rings and hippies. Not so with with South Carolina stoner rock-leaning trio Auralayer, who seem more intent on slaying aura than “reading” it (or whatever) on new track “Tantalus,” from their upcoming sophomore effort Into the Aura Lair. These dudes—Jake Williams (bass/vocals), Harold Smith (drums), Thomas Powell (guitars)—take the raw riffing of Red Fang and give it a touch of 90s post-hardcore melodicism. It’s punchy, heavy and pretty darn catchy. So, yeah, there’s plenty of aura to spare.
Into the Aura Lair was engineered and mixed by Kylesa guitarist Phillip Cope at Jam Room Studios. Mastering was done by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. It’s set for release digitally on December 4. Presave it here.
Guitarist Thomas Powell had this to say about the new track:
“’Tantalus’ was one of the first songs I brought to the table when we began writing. I had a verse, chorus and weird transitional riff, Jake and Harold filled in the rest seamlessly. Being one of the first tracks we got to write with Harold, it really showed how locked in we were together with him on board. The intricacies of his drumming over some of the more “simple” riffs we threw at him for this album showed me that ‘Tantalus’ was going to become the catalyst of something greater, ultimately leading to us pushing each other harder with each new song we wrote.”
