Italian doom metal visionaries Messa have announced the release of their highly anticipated fourth full-length album “The Spin,” set to drop on April 11th through Metal Blade Records. This monumental record promises to take listeners on a haunting and immersive journey, showcasing the band’s signature “scarlet doom” sound while incorporating fresh and unexpected influences.
Sailing past their tenth anniversary in 2024, Messa takes another step towards legendary status with “The Spin,” an album that rises, falls, broods, bites, comforts, and destroys. With a triptych of increasingly distinctive records under their belt, including “Belfry” (2016), “Feast For Water” (2018) and “Close” (2022), Messa is now audibly equipped for the big leagues.
Messa’s sound absorbs influences from jazz and blues, punk and prog, black metal and dark ambient, but their restless experimentalism has extraordinarily smooth and assured results. “The Spin” incorporates another new element, interpolating an ’80s goth rock vibe in typically full-blooded fashion.
The band stresses:
“We don’t like to repeat ourselves and we constantly try to find a new language to express while keeping our identity. This time we delved into a territory we had never explored before, which is the decade of the 1980s. We are aware that many bands before us took inspiration from that era, but we decided to be careless and run away with it mainly because we get involved and question what we do. We are not part of the ‘dark scene’ in any way. The influence for this record looks back to the early goth rock/dark wave rather than the later emanations of the genre.”
In addition to Sisters Of Mercy and Virgin Prunes, the band cites records by Killing Joke, Mercyful Fate, Jimmy Page, Journey, The Sound, Boy Harsher, and Vangelis as impacting significantly upon the creation of “The Spin”.
Something that seems to get both easier and harder at the same time are Sara’s remarkable vocals. With greater experience of stage and studio, her beguiling pipes continue getting stronger and more versatile; so the singing here is more assertive and confident, but the singer’s concerted push to new heights comes somewhat at the expense of a healthy mental equilibrium.
Sara reveals:
“For this record I gave up parts of my own sanity. I wore myself in so many different ways… You can’t lie when you’re singing. My aim was to record my parts in the most honest way possible. Mix-wise, the vocals are more on the spotlight, in true ’80s fashion. The lyrics touch on multiple topics throughout the record; destroying one’s ego, impossible cursed love, giving up on yourself, others’ expectations, self-sabotage, resurrection. While we were touring the US I reread some books by Cormac McCarthy. It was crucial to pave the way I wanted to express myself. I think the lyrics this time are more “straight in your face”. I used metaphors like I always did, but I wanted to get more verbally naked and raw. I never spoke so clearly in our previous records about insecurity, misery, uneasiness, anguish and distress.”
“The Spin” was partly recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Maurizio “Icio” Baggio and includes synth work by Andrea Mantione (Nuovo Testamento) on “Fire On The Roof” and cover art by Nico Vascellari. The album will be available in various physical formats, including limited-edition vinyl variants exclusive to different regions and events.
Tracklist for “The Spin”:
1. Void Meridian
2. At Races
3. Fire on the Roof
4. Immolation
5. The Dress
6. Reveal
7. Thicker Blood
Pre-orders for “The Spin” are now live here, with exclusive vinyl editions available here. Get ready to embark on an unforgettable sonic voyage when The Spin arrives on April 11th!
If you missed the video for “At Races”, check it out below.
