AURORA - Philosophy

To say AURORA was a unique visual kei band is an understatement. Instead of just dressing themselves in a variation of whatever the other bands were wearing, AURORA chose a completely new appearance. The band used a very light green color for their make-up and their outfits, which were designed to look like a collection of rags. The result was unique, making it seem as though the band members were mystical creatures, like fairies from a storybook, come to the human world to enthrall the people with their music.

They managed to carry on and transmit this concept and atmosphere in their music, and the maxi-single Philosophy has this mystical and mysterious feeling to it. With that description, one might expect a lot of dramatic synthesizer effects in their music, but instead the band has kept this to a minimum and worked with the vocals and the instruments to create their own atmosphere.

The CD starts off with Indispensable, an up-tempo rock song that has a driving feel to it. The lyrics are totally in English, and whereas vocalist Kaila’s voice can reach incredible heights, his English pronunciation is unfortunately rather weak and it’s hard to tell what he’s singing.

Next is the title track: Philosophy. The song starts with Muramasa’s bass only: a low but quick riff with a bass sound that is characteristic to Aurora’s music. Then the rest of the band joins in on the first verse. The song is incredibly catchy with a great chorus that is tempting to hum along with. Again, Kaila shows the wide range of his voice, singing the highest notes with ease but still putting a lot of emotion in it.

Inferior is the third and final track of the maxi-single. It’s slower than the other tracks and has a dreamy and melancholy feel to it. Also, in this song the bass sound is quite prominent, playing together with the guitars and drums that accompany the vocals perfectly.

All in all, the single gives a great image of AURORA’s music, showing their world and skills through these three songs. It’s seriously a pity that this unique band has disbanded, and even though it’s incredibly hard to get your hands on one of their singles nowadays, it’s most definitely worth it!