The relationship between black metal and outer space is a deep one, rejecting the genre's often earth-bound conservatism to shoot for the stars, often to terrific musical results. And as a fan of Darkspace, let alone the more esoteric acts like Progenie Terrestre Pura, seeing the cover art for the debut album from Vorga was very much a red flag to this particular bull! And although these Germans don't quite have as much atmosphere or intensity as either aforementioned band, they do play their brand of keyboard-enhanced black metal well enough to make Striving Towards Oblivion an album worth paying attention to. Although not enough to push them towards actual Dissection or Necrophobic territory, there's enough melody in Vorga's sound to make it clearly influenced by the Swedish school. And add that to their well-played songs, heavy on the blastbeats but also intelligent enough to allow a little light to throw longer shadows, and you have a solid enough approach to black metal to allow Vorga to make a name for themselves.

This is particularly true on the likes of Disgust, which give the keyboards space to make things spacey and enhance your mind's eye's view of the spaceship on the cover hurdling towards said oblivion. Tracks like Stars My Destination are constructed from a clever mix of black/thrash riffs and melodic backing, and contrast well with the more blastbeat-intense Last Transmission which uses the torrential blackened barrage to great effect (closest piece present to Darkspace although still not quite similar!). And there's real contrast with Starless Sky, more of a symphonic overload a la Limbonic Art yet with the riffs coming through powerfully enough to keep the metal spine strong. Fool's Paradise also takes a more riff-focused approach, contrasting well with the following Taken, which strays a little more into atmospheric black territory. Admittedly, by the time you've reached finale Death Manifesting you have more or less seen the band's bag of tricks laid out, yet it's never less than enjoyable and keeps your ears focused. There are a number of ways that Vorga could take their particular sound, yet even if they manage to keep this kind of balance then they'll be more than worth listening to; a very solid debut.