On his third trio album, the 33-year-old Armenian-born, LA-based pianist-composer Tigran Hamasyan intensifies the uniquely personal soundworld he developed on previous Nonesuch trio releases 2013's Shadow Theatre and 2015's Mockroot. The Call Within marks a more daring interplay of extremes where the slamming intensity of high energy contemporary groove-metal meets the celestial-bound melodies and metrically-complex folk music traditions largely sourced from his Armenian heritage. Yet the deep connections he's made in his exploration of ancient and contemporary culture have inspired the organic integration of musical elements on this recording. If we had to talk sub-genres, it would be more contemporary art folk-prog than post-rock jazz fusion. Tigran's prayer-like vocal on the opener ‘Levitation 21’ – slightly reminiscent of the ethereal folk-pop of the ‘Cocteau Twins’ Liz Frazer – is gatecrashed by a sudden explosion of amphetamine-fuelled, staccato prog-metal bass and drums and looping guitar-like piano riffs. On ‘Our Film’ Tigran whistles a stirring, memorable tune the late Spaghetti Western-era Morricone might well have been proud of until a jagged metal-piano riff gets caught up in a storm of colliding pulses and impossible staccato rhythms. It's another yin-yang moment. Extreme opposites attract; the transcendental and confrontational are organically aligned in Tigran's world. A series of serene interludes are the calm after the storm: processional ‘Newlyweds’ is gracefully poised and hymn-like, perfectly in synch with the celebration of a union of soulmates, while ‘The Dream Voyager’ echoes something of Pat Metheny and the Mehldau-Guiliana duo Mehliana's analogue dreamscape. An exceptional recording for what is exceptional times.