Review by Jeger on December 21, 2025.

It was only a matter of time before I'd fall for it - Cosmic Black Metal - a natural genre adaptation if you ask me. I've had mixed feelings, particularly with Labyrinthus Stellarum and their use of drum programming. But isn't it a hoot that I've been listening to more and more of LS whilst having a difficult time denying how engrossing their brand of BM is? Black Metal for traversing the Aeonic Lunar Plexus upon the force of Solar Winds; Dark Matter warping the fabric of existence as would a Maestro conduct his Orchestra. Spaceships, Aliens, Black Holes and time warps. Set to contemporary Black Metal of the scene-dominating variety? Don't threaten me with a good time. The look? I could take it or leave it, but let's face it, Black Metal is about transcendence and what is more transcendent than barreling through Outer Space? A desolate, mysterious and violent place. Music for desolate, mysterious and violent personalities. Allow me to introduce you to Germany's Vorga - a rare gem among Transcending Obscurity's roster.

It was the cover art that struck me. Who doesn't love some uber-detailed Sci-Fi artwork? And who doesn't love Black Metal? Well, tons of people, but for those of us who do, we're in for something special. Last year, Vorga released "Beyond The Palest Star" via the above-mentioned Transcending Obscurity Records. I expected more effects and a bunch of visual cinematic parts, but surprisingly and quite thankfully, what we have here is dignified Black Metal… Powerful Black Metal where the core instruments provide all the atmosphere you need, but a little keys/synth never killed anyone, so expect mild doses of those as a means to accentuate and not dominate the mix during the opening track, "Voideath": an epic intro, kick-drums that resonate & thud like a timpani and big fat fucking riffs to kick off what I can already tell is going to be one for the books. Where did these guys come from? From which Galaxy? MoM-z14 - the furthest Galaxy that we know of? It existed just 280 Million years after the Big Bang. Vorga had to wormhole to get here apparently and their get-ups are indicative of advancement and superiority over our pitiful Human Race, but they've been kind enough to offer us some pretty impressive Black Metal...

Following "Voideath", you'll take in "The Sophist" and explore sonic environments both urgent and dreamlike. High-energy progressions give way to looser tempos and eerie atmospheric elements. Whispering vocals create an ominous tone just before the pace picks back up and riff upon blissful riff unfolds. And it wouldn't be a proper Sci-Fi epic without some cataclysmic, annihilation of an entire species drama. Pondering the nature of intelligent life as hefty rhythms drive forward striking tremolo melodies in "Magical Thinking" - a conceptual work of contemplative brilliance that begs these questions: is it in our nature as intelligent life forms to destroy ourselves? And can it be stopped? Personally, I believe that we as humans are undergoing a violent phase of evolution - a gleaning of the gene pool that will either weed out what is not useful eventually, or lead to our own self-destruction.

I found the last half of the recording to be a bit more experimental than the first. A few more risks taken as far as pushing the atmospheric limits and in composition, a bit temped in comparison to most of the preceding cuts is "Fractal Cascade". A welcomed shift in vibration: tribal rhythms, ominous guitar arrangements and the melancholy of hundred rain-drenched days. The legitimacy behind Vorga is unquestionable and their talents are stark, as well. "Beyond The Palest Star" is a victory for Black Metal and a rare glimpse at when the phenomenon of Space age mumbo-jumbo and the finest dark art of Black Metal converge. In this case, the result of this sacred union is perfection! Well, close to it… What a nice little escape this turned out to be. The Cosmos awaits! And into its vast mysterious terror do we venture. Horizons anew! Really cool ones like the ones you see in Sci-Fi movies where there's like four moons and shit… And some damn fine BM to back it up. I guess the future arrived and I was busy smoking weed. Better late than never! Dig it.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Michael on April 21, 2024.

German Sci-Fi black metal entity Vorga is here to explore the outer space with us for the second time. So please enter the spaceship and let's lift off. But beware, this isn't going to be a soap opera with nice Tribbles or even with some malevolent aliens who are lurking in the horsehead nebula to extinct mankind. No, this is more or less a desperate trip into the nothingness and to explore the tragic and maybe senseless existence of the human race.

The cover describes perfect what we can find musically on Beyond The Palest Star. Beauty but nothing that gives you shelter or hope. The slight futuristic blackish stuff Vorga perform on their second full-length is full of melancholic and desperate melodies that let you literally feel the nothingness around you. The whole album is like a long search on which you will never find the answer. Or to stay in outer space, like a probe that flies from solar system to solar system, scanning each planet and its satellites to find alien life only to resign and exit the system without a positive result: the songs are very intense, in many single parts kind of persisting and challenging but then suddenly explode and accelerate onto warp 10 again. Stylistically Vorga aren't too far away from their countrymen The Spirit (thematically and musically) and this of course implies some similarities to Dissection of course, too. But while The Spirit are more minimalistic when it comes to sound effects, Vorga often use some freaky spaced keyboard sounds to give their songs some more depth and attraction and so they remind me here and there a little bit of very old The Covenant back to “Nexus Polaris”. Also the guitar solos (like in 'Magical Thinking') underline the desperation of the album. Repetitive and in minor, this isn't anything to build you up, this is more something to drag you down. The tremolo picking in this song catches up with this, too. Nothingness, meaningless existence – what a fantastic oxymoron to the title 'Magical Thinking'. With 'Tragic Humanity' (yeah, another positive aspect on the album) they created a very epic one. Some mid-tempo melodies that are kind of cinematic and rousing are combined with many keyboard tunes. Here and there are ferocious, icy black metal outbursts but it never turns out into a black metal onslaught. This is a highly melodic track that stresses out the tragic we all have to suffer in a very vivid way. Having arrived (or not) at the end of our journey, we are docking at the 'Terminal' which attracts of its almost classical arrangements at the beginning and the very dense and futuristic atmosphere in its progress. Again a lot of keyboards are used to create this atmosphere and this one is for sure another highlight of the album. Not like a lot of other bands they put a slight generic track at the end of the album and fortunately this one didn't turn out like the soundtrack to that boring movie with Tom Hanks, no this one make you want to hear more by Vorga.

Although our search for answers wasn't successful and there is nothing to be found, not even beyond the palest star, we will start exploring again. And this time in the third dimension (or on Vorga third album which hopefully won't take too long to be released).

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 deadly voids