In 2022, Vorga’s debut, Striving Toward Oblivion, was an impressive example of spacey melodic black metal laced with atmosphere which I found myself come back to quite a few times before it made its way to my top 50 list that year. Their blend of furious and moody melodic black metal provided an addictive formula, and I was pretty excited when the follow-up, Beyond the Palest Star was announced. Sporting another stellar cover art by Adam Burke, it looked to be a direct continuation of their debut. However, it seems that along the way, there were a few mishaps, both on the songwriting and on the production side of things. Notably, this album takes a while to get started. “Voideath” and “The Sophist” are two mid-paced tracks that really drag the album down in the pivotal moments when it should be taking off. It’s not until “Magical Thinking” when the album truly gets going.
And when Beyond the Palest Star shines, it shines brightly. “Magical Thinking” is the kind of moody melodic black metal Vorga are good at. Pulsating synths pepper the background among mournful riffs, and this song transitions perfectly into album highlight “The Cataclysm”. This song is the burst of energy desperately needed on the album, and saves it from total collapse. The riffs are very well executed, and the drumming is truly spot on here. That being said, Beyond the Palest Star drops back into the ho-hum mid-pace it set for itself in the beginning across the next two songs, and only on closer “Terminal” does it manage to pick up speed again in a masterfully crafted build-up into a cascading climax of energy to close out the record. Vorga set out to make a moodier album here, and while they succeeded in that, I can’t help but think it was more a detriment than a success. Mid-paced melodic black metal is fine, but if the majority of the record is lacking in the speed it yearns for, the result suffers. Compounded by this is the abysmal production, which crushes the album and completely diminishes the breathing room Striving Toward Oblivion had. I hope Vorga learn from this and improve on the next album. I really enjoyed their debut, and while I won’t toss this aside completely, the chances of me returning to it in the future will be slim, given better meloblack already exists this year.
