Messa are a fascinating band to follow and not only for the mysteries of their psychedelic, esoteric doom. The Italians never repeat themselves and give each album a new personality. After the jazzy fog of Feast for Water, Messa crossed the Mediterranean and warmed Close with a sun inspired by Tunisian and Algerian culture. For The Spin, habits were turned upside down: everyone recorded in their own corner and the 70's progressive influences evolved: this time, the quartet leaned towards the 80's to look for textures new to them. After all, Messa have passed the ten-year mark, so it's only natural to change decades!
This 80's influence is reflected in the choice of equipment and mix: Sara's voice is more prominent, the synths used, reverb effects, a different way of looking at the mix... In short, technical information that becomes more explicit on Void Meridian and its first moments of electronic minimalism. The echo on the vocals gives it a spectral touch that seems to come from another world, and when the guitar riffs start to give the track its tension, accompanied by a nervous bass, we're immediately struck by the gothic rock / cold wave ghosts that crawl underneath this opener. But it's also absolutely faithful to Messa: a thick atmosphere, a solo, changes of pace, a bit of heavy, a bit of blues... At Races really drives the point home, the track being carried as much by the post-punk rhythm as by Sara Bianchin's performance, which pushes her vocals ever further. The band confirm that The Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke or Boy Harsher (to choose a more recent reference) have infused their broth. The cocktail works surprisingly well, giving Messa's music an unusual coldness but also a new feverishness and anguish.
Messa have lost neither their inspiration nor their effectiveness: despite their penchant for long, atmospheric tracks with convoluted structures, the groove has not been forgotten. Fire on the Roof and its heavy, thick riffs, the crescendo of The Dress which explodes into a cacophony bordering on extreme metal after a hallucinatory trumpet number, the aggression of Reveal... The Spin has no shortage of bite or rough edges, and sometimes flirt with black metal. The finale of Thicker Blood is the best example of this: after a menacing synth that could be borrowed from John Carpenter, we cross contemplative melancholic expanses before gradually being swept into a raging storm... right up to the conclusion with saturated vocals that are as surprising as they are poignant in the raw viscerality they convey.
Not only does The Spin once again succeed in renewing the formula while remaining faithful to Messa's universe, without ever betraying the balance between light and darkness (their haze regularly lets in comforting rays of sunshine), but it perhaps corrects Close's only flaw by avoiding being too uniform. Thanks to this amplified nervousness and a more central vocal than before, Messa seems to have opted for a less cerebral and even more spontaneous, sincere approach. There's more guts in their spells, and the result involves the listener all the more: it's still hypnotically beautiful, but it's also more touching, angrier, sometimes more desperate. What class, and what a pleasure to find them every time constant in their quality but never in the same place!
