ALBUM REVIEW: The Spin – Messa
Every once in a while, you discover a record that makes you think you should be wearing a tuxedo when playing it. Back in 2022, MESSA gave us one such example with Close, their enthralling third album that combined spine-tingling Gothic doom metal with some frankly gorgeous vocals and the odd burst of grindcore. It was a rich and beautifully executed piece of work that rightly won critical acclaim, not to mention making all of us at DS towers feel thoroughly uneducated.
Fast forward to now and the follow-up has arrived. The Spin is their first for Metal Blade Records and is another genre-bending trip into a bleak but enthralling musical landscape. It’s shorter than its predecessor and features more of an overt post-punk vibe, but is nevertheless a welcome addition to their burgeoning discography. At times, it’s thunderously heavy and has an almost baroque sensibility, it would sound incredible to hear this booming around a Venetian cathedral, but it is also rich in atmosphere and a worthy sequel to Close.
And just like last time, singer Sara Bianchin is the immediate focal point. Her voice carries a weight of emotion and is perfectly suited to the musical devastation exploding around her. She has charisma and talent in abundance and steals the show on the opening Void Meridian with ease. While she’s undoubtedly their ace though, MESSA are not a one-woman band. The guitar melodies are full of character, especially on the romantic darkness of At Races, the imposing doom of Fire On The Roof, or the spiralling guitar solos that crop up throughout the track list. MESSA are undoubtedly a metal band, but they’re an avantgarde one with musicians who not only know how to play, but who like to push convention as well.
There’s also a welcome return of MESSA’s more jazzy side. The Dress features an extended instrumental passage that starts off like the soundtrack to a night spent in a smoky beatnik club in New Orleans, before building to a point where it turns into what can only be described as planets colliding. In the wake of the thunderous climax, the western-tinged opening to Reveal is a brief chance to catch your breath before being hit by another wall of sound. The Spin then reaches a final high with Thicker Blood, a sweeping epic that veers from movie soundtrack to doom and back again.
In the space of 42 minutes, MESSA prove that Close was no fluke and make a compelling case for headlining Roadburn for the next decade. The downside though, is that it is noticeably shorter. It’s rare for a doom metal band to feel like they’ve finished early and while it could just be a side-effect of genre-expectations, an extra track or two would have pushed this up a notch. That niggle aside though, The Spin is excellent. Get your suit to the dry cleaners, dig out the cuff links, pour yourself a needlessly expensive whiskey and let it smash you to bits like a melancholic asteroid.
Rating: 8/10
The Spin is set for release on April 11th via Metal Blade Records.
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