Calligram : "POSITION | MOMENTUM"

 

This British black metal band is pretty feral and furious. They are full blast ahead from the beginning, though as the first track of their new album unfolds you begin to here more nuance and a wider range of sonic colors introduced. The vocals are somewhat of a point of contention, as they they seem like just random squawking. Are the even actual lyrics beings screamed out at this point. Their need for speed is insatiable going into  the second song. It takes about two minutes for these guys to weave more ambiance into the battery of their instruments. There is more of a dissonance to what they do than most black metal bands who identify as being atmospheric.

The blasting demolishes the creepy mood they were setting for "Eschilo". The vocals continue to only contribute chaos. Toward the end of the song there are more memorable moments riff wise. "Tebe" finds them racing off into another bout of the blasty mcnasties. The vocals cast in the swirl of feral shrieking. There is a formula at work as they wander in a more melodic direction once again two minutes into the song. These are the darker more interesting moments that need to out weigh the frantic blitzes of speed. At this point we are midway into the album, where they need to start switching it up and showing me more of what they are capable of. 

I guess in my previous statement about switching it up, I should have clarified that I meant in the context of one of their songs, as they do have an instrumental atmospheric interlude called "Per Jaime". This might marginally expand the dynamic range of the album, but would have been better spent using these ideas in the context of an actual song to break the formulaic monotony. "Ostrananie" has a White Ward like moment mid song, which does not break from what they have been doing the bulk of the album, but adds a little more depth. "Ex -Sistere" finds a palm muted tension being their two minute mark breaker, then some thrashing intensity. 

The last song finds them working things into a more flowing cascade of black metal. The vocals fall further back into the guitars, making it easier to block them out. This shows they have potential to do more. The vocals being as annoying as they are forced me to round this one down to a 7.5, much like say the Body where the vocals are so deal breakingly bad it makes it hard to enjoy the album, but perhaps you pay little attention to vocals to begin with then, you might finds this more enjoyable than I did.