Calligram are a UK-based black metal band and this is their latest album.
Following on from 2020’s very well-received The Eye Is the First Circle, Calligram have now returned with 40 minutes of new material on Position | Momentum.
The caustic blackened intensity of Calligram is a joy to experience. The band wield chaos, mayhem, and carnage to assault the listener with a barrage of spiked riffs and unhinged screams. However, there’s also intricacy, nuance, and subtlety here too, as well as a masterclass in worldbuilding.
Position | Momentum brings together the worlds of frosted black metal and emotive crusty hardcore together in a flurry of bladed songs that embrace the former, yet benefit from the latter with great skill. Calligram take the strengths from both styles, using them to master both scathing brutality and malevolent atmosphere. Of the latter, despite Position | Momentum‘s sheer violence, the atmospheric and mood-rich components of Calligram’s sound have increased in prevalence and effectiveness. To do this while still retaining the withering levels of sonic aggression in their sound is no mean feat, and is testament to the band’s grip on songwriting, dynamics, and structure.
Across eight tracks Calligram range between the worlds of blackened hostility and stirring atmosphere. Both sides are well-drawn and realised, making for songs that offer a wealth of depth and substance for the listener to explore. At least, until things get really nasty and the band focus on pure dark punishment. At these times their true fury is unleashed, which only makes the mood-focused elements even more affecting, and even downright beautiful in places. Calligram make the darkness sound like an attractive proposition.
What a gorgeous way to experience the serrated kiss of raw emotive intensity in lethal blackened form. Position | Momentum is such a good record, and Calligram have ably demonstrated that they are at the top of the food chain when it comes to this sort of modern black metal intensity.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 
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