Album review: Calligram – Position | Momentum

There is comfort to be found in the deepest darkness. Even joy, sometimes. Such is the philosophy behind the acerbic second album from Calligram. In recent interviews, the London-based collective have suggested that Position | Momentum was influenced by the skate punk of Turnstile, the murky beats of British rap supremo Headie One and the freeform experimentation of jazz legend Miles Davis. Dig beneath the outer crust of razor-wire riffage and abominable blastbeats here, and that kind of inspired open-mindedness will reveal itself.

Of course, these eight songs work on a more straightforward level, too. Picking up where they left off with excellent 2020 debut The Eye Is The First Circle, Latin-titled compositions like Sur Dolore (‘In Pain’) and Frantumi In Itinere (‘Crushed On The Road’) strike not with weirdness but the sheer infernal intensity of the scourging compositions on which Matteo Rizzardo’s throat-ripping vocals – performed in his native Italian – are held aloft. Elements of atmospheric noise, D-beat punk and grindcore make it into the mix (producer Russ Russell is a veteran of Napalm Death and At The Gates), but even as they cruise through the ominous ambience of Eschilo (an ode to ancient philosopher Aeschylus) and the shapeshifting Tebe (‘To You’) it’s really all about the hellfire.

Position | Momentum properly opens out in its second half, though. Per Jamie offers a kind of cursed respite. Across the audacious seven minutes of Ostranenie (‘Far From Home’) you're whipped from swashbuckling gallop to funereal dirge to sheer black metal bludgeon, with a mournful trumpet the binding thread. Ex-Sistere blends it all into a warp-speed fury that should rip the flesh from those unable to surf its mighty swell. By the time Seminario Dieci drops the curtain with its far more deliberate pace and placement of heavy influence, Calligram will either have lost you, or you’ll be worshipping at their twisted altar. Sip from their caustic chalice and see.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Behemoth, Pupil Slicer, Akercocke

Position | Momentum is out now via Prosthetic