ALBUM REVIEW: Binary Garden – Auras

In the brave new world of the 21st century, digital proficiency and technical obscurity have become part and parcel of progressive music. The likes of PERIPHERY and MESHUGGAH have ruthlessly capitalised on this, paving the way for an entirely new era. Ontario’s AURAS are very much a product of this influence, offering a complex, forward-thinking and ultra-polished take on metalcore. Following a consistent string of releases the quintet opted for a brief hiatus after 2016’s Heliospectrum, but now prepare to return with gusto, bringing sophomore full-length effort Binary Garden to the table. This is a release that packs a punch and offers a neat, refined bundle of the AURAS sound in a palatable 40-minute portion.

The end of a hiatus typically brings with it a number of prerequisites, and Binary Garden immediately ticks the first box by making an impact with the opening track. Momenta epitomises the AURAS brand in under five minutes, building up with an ’80s synthwave-esq intro (almost a trademark of the band’s motif now) and promptly launching into a crushingly heavy, groove-laden verse, with precision and professionalism oozing from every crevasse of the sound. Helping to establish taste and balance, the chorus brings with it a flurry of delicate clean singing and an ambient hook lead, offering a short pause from the chaos and cementing an axis on which the remainder of the song can rest. Looking beyond the djent-inspired chugging and the graceful melodies, one of the other immediate, standout features of this opening track is the hyper-crisp production and tone. Each instrument appears to be expertly fine-tuned and balanced, with the down-tuned chugs in particular taking precedent and being allowed truly pop, as they should. In its own right this opening track is well-crafted and engaging, but it serves a secondary purpose in summarising the band’s sound, and setting a strong trend for the remainder of the record.

For instance, third track Erode follows suit exceptionally, being another track adorned with variation and craftsmanship. Once again the guitar tones and ‘djent-y’ riffs are simply explosive, and at this point become one of the hallmarks of Binary Garden, making for some of the most memorable moments. But again this track provides patience and balance in abundance, employing once again the services of the clean vocals to soften the mood a little and help break the track up into more distinct phases. This approach, in fact, is perhaps the most impressive aspect of Binary Garden. Without necessarily weaving a particularly strong continuity between each track, the individual songs themselves never fail to stand out and make an impact. Essentially, the record could be released as ten very strong singles, and that is certainly no easy feat to achieve.

Whiteout, Essence, and The Demoness continue the trend aptly. All serve to establish strong and distinct verses, choruses, bridges and breakdowns, whilst still being successful in interlacing technicality and obscurity into the music. Eric Alemeida‘s piercing screams will often make way for the clean singing of guitarist Josh Ligaya, which will subsequently make way for a ruthless, down-tempo breakdown or a series of groovy riffs, with balance and deft songwriting again striking the listener as the recurring themes. Moreover, final track Abyss does all of the above whilst injecting a distinctly heightened epic feel; an array of synths chime in the backdrop throughout (again keeping the ‘futuristic’ feel alive) whilst the song meanders through a number of different phases, ultimately reaching an epic crescendo to close out the album in style.

In case we hadn’t already made the message clear, Binary Garden is truly impressive when it comes to each individual song. Each of the ten tracks possesses variation and character, making for an engaging 40-minute experience. However, a key letdown is the record’s lack of continuity. To be clear, for a lot of bands, this record would be pushing the boundaries of capability, however AURAS have always seemed as though they were on the brink of establishing a really distinct, potent motif in their sound, and once again they have fallen narrowly short of the mark here. Several of the tracks of this album present glimpses of futuristic and synth-wave influences (almost reminiscent of ’80s homage outfit THE MIDNIGHT), but at no point do they take centre stage and play a defining part in the character of the song. What’s more is that these influences are not woven together in any way throughout the album, which is arguably a missed opportunity for these guys. Similarly, there doesn’t seem to be any real thematic flair at all during this album. Once again, it simply feels like a collection of individually impressive songs, which, if you don’t care for concept albums or storytelling in music, may sit just fine with you.

In any case, it’s hard to take too much away from AURAS solely because of the continuity element. The take away here really should be that this outfit have returned after three long years with an album jam-packed full of punchy, exciting content. Ultimately, Binary Garden undoubtedly has replay value, and that’s never something that can be criticised too harshly. One can only hope that next time this outfit can take a step back, critically analyse their songwriting and consider how their music can be taken to the next level in terms of meaning and imagery. In the mean time, they’ve left us with Binary Garden, a thoroughly imperious, hard-hitting piece of music.

Score: 8/10

Binary Garden is set for release July 12th via eOne. 

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