Messa - The Spin
- Samuel Stevens
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
In their decade-long journey through the depths of doom, Italy’s Messa has cemented themselves as one of the genre’s most daring and exploratory acts. With their fourth album, The Spin, set for release via Metal Blade Records on April 11, 2025, the quartet embraces reinvention, refining their signature “Scarlet Doom” sound with a bold infusion of 80s gothic rock and dark wave influences. The result is an album that doesn’t just expand their sonic palette—it reconstructs it with a haunting, cinematic scope that both challenges and enthralls.
From the moment The Spin opens with “Void Meridian,” there’s an immediate sense of urgency. The band’s characteristic mix of doom-laden heaviness and atmospheric beauty is present, but layered with sharp, reverb-soaked guitars and pulsating synths that channel the spirit of early Sisters of Mercy and Killing Joke. The rhythm section of drummer Rocco and bassist Alberto embraces a more streamlined approach, allowing each note to land with precise weight. The gated reverb on the drums—a staple of the 80s—adds an evocative, nostalgic punch that is both unexpected and mesmerizing.
A key highlight, “Fire on the Roof,” featuring Andrea Mantione (Nuovo Testamento) on synthesizer, captures Messa’s evolving identity perfectly. The interplay between Marco’s spectral guitar work and the eerie pulsing synth textures creates a vast, almost surreal soundscape. Similarly, “The Dress” introduces a stunning trumpet solo by Michele Tedesco, which later duels with the guitar, evoking a noirish, jazz-infused haze that feels at once timeless and avant-garde. While the track, "Immolation," is a stripped-down ballad performed on an old-sounding, untuned piano that allows vocalist Sara to showcase her powerful, emotive vocals to soar, before the track explodes and Marco delivers a stunning guitar solo, backed up by the entire band.
Lyrically, The Spin is Messa’s rawest and unflinching work to date. Vocalist Sara has always possessed a voice capable of both devastation and tenderness, but here she pushes herself into new emotional depths. “Reveal” finds her tackling themes of self-destruction and ego dissolution with a visceral honesty, her voice floating hauntingly over a minimal yet foreboding arrangement that intertwines some 80s-style southern rock into their repertoire. Meanwhile, “Thicker Blood” serves as the album’s climax—a towering, gothic-doom anthem that oscillates between shadowy melancholy and explosive catharsis.
The production choices on The Spin further showcase Messa’s dedication to authenticity. By utilizing original 80s gear—from chorus effects to vintage synths like the Juno 106—the band fully commits to the sonic aesthetic without ever feeling like a pastiche. Instead, the album is imbued with a richness and depth that feels lived-in, almost as if these songs had always existed within Messa’s DNA, waiting to be unearthed.
While previous records, Belfry, Feast for Water, and Close, each marked distinct evolutionary phases for the band, The Spin feels like the culmination of everything Messa has built thus far—only to be torn down and rebuilt anew. It’s an album that embraces reinvention with fearless abandon while maintaining the core emotional intensity that has defined their work.
For longtime fans, The Spin may initially feel like a departure, but it ultimately reveals itself as a natural, exhilarating progression. For newcomers, this album serves as a spellbinding entry point into one of doom metal’s most innovative forces. Messa isn’t just looking to push the genre forward—they’re setting it aflame and dancing in the ashes. The Spin is a mesmerizing triumph and easily one of the most compelling releases of the year.