ALBUM REVIEW: Position | Momentum – Calligram
If you can count on the UK for anything other than misery, it’s that we’re generally pretty good at extreme music. Come to think of it maybe there’s more cause and effect in that sentence than initially intended, but the point is the scene is thriving and with year-end worthy releases from the likes of BURNER, DEATH GOALS and PUPIL SLICER all already on the books it’s safe to say 2023 is doing a fine job of matching recent standards. Presenting another excellent addition to the list are London-based multi-national blackened hardcore outfit CALLIGRAM, their new album Position | Momentum out this Friday via the ever-dependable Prosthetic Records.
For some, the quality of this record will have been guaranteed already; depending how you count 2017’s mini-LP Askesis, this is either CALLIGRAM’s second or third album, but either way the band have already carved out a decent little niche for themselves. Their version of blackened hardcore is a true hybrid – as ‘black metal’ as it is ‘hardcore’, so to speak, rather than a case of one thing glued jarringly onto the other or a tipping of the scales too far in one particular direction. This remains the case on Position | Momentum, the key components of the band’s sound resembling something like two wolves locked in constant battle, neither ever quite coming out on top, and each inflicting considerable damage in the process.
What that means a little more tangibly is that Position | Momentum delivers on the icy, elemental intensity of black metal – the blast beats, the tremolo-picking, the bilious screams of vocalist Matteo Rizzardo – but it does so with the urgency, the impatience even, of punk and hardcore. Even in generally quite lengthy songs, the band are quick to develop or move on from one idea to the next, never sticking too long to an uninterrupted blast as is often the way in black metal for example, but also never just dropping to a big chugging breakdown or a straightforward shout-along and thereby losing the pervasive blackened atmosphere that hangs over the entirety of the record.
Crucially, CALLIGRAM have actually added to their winning formula on Position | Momentum. It’s more dynamic and atmospheric than their previous efforts – although 2020’s The Eye Is The First Circle wasn’t without its moments – as becomes particularly clear as the album progresses. The instrumental Per Jamie begins the second half with a well-placed moody interlude for example, its use of brass subsequently picked up in the dynamic recent single and firm album highlight Ostranenie. Such ebb and flow is crucial in music as oppressive and violent as this, and the manner in which the album’s quieter moments are clearly brought in and amplified as the record goes on reveals an impressive command of sequencing that ensures Position | Momentum remains consistently arresting – and that it leaves a lasting impact.
Tasked with ensuring this holds to the very end is closer Seminario Dieci – another dynamic highlight that begins with moody and hypnotic clean guitars and weaves its way masterfully to a climax that’s as melodic as it is cacophonous. It brings to a close a 40-minute journey that feels like it lasts about half that, so compelling are CALLIGRAM not only in their intensity but also in their ability to refresh and revitalise their attack with well-placed but never needlessly drawn out moments of respite. It marks a step up for the band on previous output that has already received a well-justified share of high praise, and in turn provides another stellar example of the diverse and outstanding quality found in this particularly extreme corner of the UK scene that CALLIGRAM have made their home in.
Rating: 8/10
Position | Momentum is set for release on July 14th via Prosthetic Records.
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