German black metal outfit Vorga on its first full-length album “Striving Towards Oblivion” finds a perfect sound for their musical style. The nine songs lay hold of the listener and this is because the guitars infuse infectious tremolos and plenty of melodies. The approach works in the favor of the band and it won’t take you too long to get into the interstellar mood. In every facet of this album vocalist and bassist Спейса, guitarist Atlas and drummer Jervas achieve great songwriting skills, exploiting the powerful elements that come from lead guitars and memorable melodies. As newcomers to the black metal scene, Vorga surely possesses a superb ability to exploit powerful dynamics where the guitars take central stage on this album, each track allowing the melodies to shine.

The opener “Starless Sky” immediately strikes with blazing tremolos, and the drums are played with focused speed. On the other hand, the mid-tempo parts descend into haunting melodies and the guitars carefully insert hooks, you can sense the fiery passion running through the song. The guitars are overflowing with sharp tremolos and have a catchy rhythm to them. The following track “Comet” conveys some notable variations where the guitars deliver spacey riffs sounding different from the traditional style of black metal, the synth creates waves of colors. Electronic vibes add flavor to the bouncing guitar effects with Vorga dovetailing with industrial touches spacey grooves, and the keyboards gel together. The ability to create different textures and sounds make the music volatile as Vorga blends a variation of styles.

“Striving Towards Oblivion” is inexplicably unique excelling in vibrancy, these stylish guitar riffs and the crushing drums offer some fresh melodic black metal riffs on “Disgust”. The exotic musical style is played with such fine creativity, the guitars offer some technical modern riffs while sounding energetic and inspired. Vorga managed to express its fluent ideas. For this reason, the music is reminiscent of the modern black metal trend but rest assured, the blast beasts are aplenty and the tremolos are heavily used. The form of aggression invites some interstellar synth that perfectly matches the flow of the music, the vocals are typical black metal shrieks.

“Stars My Destination” is laid out with elegant symmetry, catchy rhythm guitars, pounding drums flow with such ease and the graceful tone of the guitar melodies continue to manifest. Musically the album is very engaging and organic, the mid-tempos are mostly infused in grooves. The heaviness of the guitars is intense and some of the songs are saturated with catchy melodic segments. “Last Transmission” is one of the fastest tracks, the drums showcase skills with the sinister vocals and technicality utilized by the guitar department. Vorga increases the fierceness where the role of the drums is to build compact and powerful dynamics, integrating blast beats and double bass and the guitars often contrast to the bleak undertones. “Striving Towards Oblivion” has subtle nuance to atmospheric black metal, not to mention the interesting elements of the lead guitars and vocals to make the songs memorable.

As a promising new band, Vorga proves that the German black scene is full of creativity, and this makes certain songs like “Fool’s Paradise” focus on the mid-nineties style of black metal. The effective atmosphere becomes almost symphonic. The coherent musicianship and the song arrangements convey blast beats and the heavy power chords generate a maelstrom of whirling aggression. The mid-tempo sections are calculated by heavy riffing and the melodic passages are full of hooks, thus achieving a perfect balance. Overall the album intersects with the Norwegian and the German style of black metal. Similarly, “Taken” transcends into the atmospheric and melodic aspect where the song begins with furious blast beats that are followed by a powerful rhythms. This somehow reminds me of Dimmu Borgir, Dark Fortress, and Geist, apart from the opening track which is very much inspired by Dissection, there isn’t one song on “Striving Towards Oblivion” that lacks quality.

Vorga has impressed me by the sonic scale and the quality of the songwriting. The final track “Death Manifesting” begins with catchy guitar lines but the airy synth provides an atmospheric effect. The flawless rhythm completes the sonic architecture. Vorga is really amusing with its song composition and the emphasis on melodies makes this track amongst my favorite. “Striving Towards Oblivion” is a fantastic album that blends both sinister melodies and the cosmic atmosphere of black metal with a modern touch of ingenuity. 

Release Date: February 4th, 2022
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Tracklisting:

1. Stareless Sky
2. Comet
3. Disgust
4. Stars my Destination
5. Last Transmission
6. Fool’s Paradise
7. Taken
8. Death Manifesting