Formed in northern Italy in 2014, Messa have spent the past decade carving out their own sound in heavy music. What began as an experiment among friends from different musical worlds, vocalist Sara Bianchin, guitarist Alberto Piccolo, bassist Marco Zanin, and drummer Rocco Toaldo, quickly became something larger. They emerged from the country’s underground with a sound that drew loosely from doom metal, yet never belonged fully to it. Each record since their debut Belfry has marked a new boundary crossed, from the jazz-shaded currents of Feast for Water to the desert-worn textures of Close.
Messa describe what they do as “Scarlet Doom,” a term they coined early on to capture the "emotional range and color"of their music. That definition has held steady even as their sound continues to evolve. “For sure one thing we might say about our material is that it’s a 100% honest expression of what we are,” they’ve said.
Messa has now released their forth album, The Spin. In describing the album's beginnings, the band said they wanted to surprise themselves, find a new musical language, and push themselves out of their comfort zone. In the the case of The Spin, it drove them towards the 1980s. Recorded throughout an entire summer, the album reimagines their darkness through the lens of goth rock and post-punk, drawing inspiration from The Sound, Killing, Vangelis, Killing Joke, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Boy Harsher, and Journey.
To capture that sound, Messa used as much ’80s equipment as possible, from the mixing console to amps, chorus effects, gated reverb on the drums, and some of the best-known synthesizers from that era. Alberto and Marco wove those synth tones into their guitars and bass, expanding the band’s range without sacrificing weight. Meanwhile, Bianchin’s re-reading of Cormac McCarthy’s novels while traveling across America shaped the lyrical tone, channeling deep anguish, self sabotage, expectation, impossible love, and a quiet, unsettling distress.
Going into my first listen, I was super skeptical about The Spin with the '80's thing leaving me scratching my head, but it quickly drew me in and I found completely taken by it. At just over forty minutes, this is Messa’s shortest album, but they make the most of it.
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