Following a packed winter tour sharing music from their 2019 album, Binary Garden, Ontario metal band, AURAS, will return to the road in May for a tour alongside Quebec metalcore giants, Feels Like Home. Both bands will represent their provinces on this run; commencing May 1 in Toronto at iconic venue, Sneaky Dee’s, they’ll cross through Ontario and Quebec, wrapping in Trois-Rivieres on May 9. See below or a complete list of dates.
“I’m excited to play our favorite homebound cities on this next run,” the band says. “We’ve spent a lot of time in the US for the majority of our shows the past few years so it’s refreshing to keep it nice and close to home.”
Binary Garden was released on July 12, 2019 via Entertainment One. AURAS’ video for standout single, Momenta, was directed by JP Charlebois, providing a bold visual aesthetic to the album’s sound.
“We had a blast filming in Montreal with JP Charlebois,” guitarist, Josh Ligaya, says of the video production. “Thank you to Cosmodome for letting us film in their amazing space museum. Please enjoy part 1 of the music video series!”
The Demoness launched the album as its first single. “‘The Demoness’ is one of the heavier songs off of Binary Garden’” says guitarist Josh Ligaya. “The lyrics were written with a fictional sci-fi approach where I talk about Mother Nature letting go of herself as a person would. She’s tired of being mistreated by people and decides to stop taking care of herself; along with everyone who lives with her (human beings). Her toxic lifestyle of metaphorical substance abuse eventually leads to destroying humanity as a result.”
Binary Garden is the follow up to Heliospectrum, the debut full-length offering from AURAS. Heliospectrum was the inevitable culmination of years spent perfecting their sonic brew in basements, clubs, and rehearsals, honing a mix of unrelenting heaviness, complex riffs, and melodic ambiance.
The music of AURAS isn’t “challenging” for its own sake. The goal is to inspire, to push upward and persevere. The ambitious and evolving quartet aspire to a “progressive” ideal in its purest form, each of them committed to the power of smashing boundaries.
The band destroys any notions of the dreaded “sophomore slump” with their moving groove-metal masterpiece, Binary Garden. It’s ten songs of psychic exploration across musical frontiers. It could be mistaken for the work of alchemists or shamans, were it not for the warm charm of four lads from Waterloo, Ontario who worship Super Smash Bros. and beer pong with nearly as much dedication as their discipleship of groove.
A conceptually-driven head trip worthy of an episode of “Black Mirror”, the new AURAS album explores the complex relationship between humankind and technology, as people evolve from symbiotic parts of mother nature into cybernetic bits of code. The intellectual depth of the subject matter on Binary Garden is juxtaposed by its immediate accessibility. The expansion of AURAS into bigger melodic hooks is more suited to the digital single oriented era than ever, even as Binary Garden works as a cohesive whole.
TOUR DATES:
May 1 – Toronto, ON – Sneaky Dee’s
May 2 – Waterloo, ON – Chainsaw
May 3 – Hamilton, ON – Doors Pub
May 4 – London, ON – Call The Office
May 5 – Ottawa, ON – Babylon
May 6 – Montreal, QC – Piranha Bar
May 7 – Jonquiere, QC – Cote Cour
May 8 – Quebec City, QC – La Source
May 9 – Trois-Rivieres, QC – Nord-Ouest Café
Vandala Magazine 