Vorga has crossed the cosmos again.
Two years after their debut album, Peter Jordanov (guitar/bass/vocals) and Atlas (guitars), now accompanied by Hymir (drums, Nyrgenth, Sickle of Dust), collaborate again with Adam Burke (Atræ Bilis, Angel Witch, Hath, Dark Buddha Rising, Sólstafir, Mare Cognitum…) and Transcending Obscurity Records for the release of Beyond the Palest Star.
The band first bewitches us with Voideath, an opening track with a dissonant yet soothing introduction that darkens as the impressive rhythmic pattern ignites, followed by raw ominous howls. The majestic elements naturally adopt the aggressive riffs and the occasional soaring touches, just like those strange keyboards on The Sophist, creating a relatively heavy atmosphere strengthened by a melodious rhythm with transcendent tones. The voice becomes more distant and misty, creating a certain coldness that is confirmed by the dynamic rhythm section that carries us through to Magical Thinking, where the entrance sample leads into haunting and soothing sounds despite heaviness and the vocals’ depth. New angst-ridden harmonics give the track an oppressive feel, and The Cataclysm follows with a much livelier approach featuring cutting guitars at full speed, reviving Old School influences. Melancholy develops once again with Tragic Humanity, which keeps an innate complementarity between fury and soaring elements, while also featuring a few more virulent passages that disappear almost completely with the final, before returning with more plaintive tones on Fractal Cascade, the next composition, whose break is relatively strange, almost disturbing. The rest of the track follows more or less the same dynamic, creating a few more abrupt waves before letting Terminal close the album with that modern airy touch to which Black Metal roots offer eruptions of energy, like the central conflagration we’ll find on the track’s final moments.
Unsurprisingly, Vorga‘s cosmic melodies once again hit the spot. There’s not a weak moment in Beyond the Palest Star, not a single passage that doesn’t serve the futuristic, transcendent atmosphere into which the album propels us in an instant.
95/100