Album Review: MESSA Close

16:52 Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Messa had already established a unique voice in stoner doom with 2016's Belfry, but it was 2018's Feast for Water that realized the Italian band's ingenuity. While its metal component recalled Black Sabbath more than the droning dirges of Belfry, Feast of Water veered into a labyrinth of dark jazz fusion intrigue—and still left room for vocalist Sara Bianchin to develop her transfixing siren sounds. Few bands have managed to subvert the roots of doom while maintaining the genre's worship of the almighty riff. This respect carries over to Messa's latest release Close. But this time, they've gone the way of Om and Secret Chiefs 3 by synthesising their avant-styled metal with ancient Near-Eastern musical themes.

It's no coincidence that Close's cover art depicts a traditional Afro-Meditaranian dance called "Nakh" (as seen in the "Pilgrim" music video). Messa likened the dance to headbanging, crystalizing their album's bold crossover. Even so, a deceptive traditionalism laces the addictive fuzz-caked strains and thudding drums of "Suspended." It's more than enough for Messa to reinstate their immersive sonics. Bianchin's intuitive melodies work swimmingly against the husky chords, complemented by a bewitching free jazz guitar solo from Matteo Bordin and muted rhythmic interplay between guitarist Alberto Piccolo, bassist Mark Sade and drummer Rocco Toaldo. The song's rising tension perfectly sets up "Dark Horse" to cut through with its gothic post-punk propulsion.

Messa Trojan-horse-style carries contorted tremolo-picked melodies and a crushing slow-down with addictive vocal and guitar motifs, achieving a balance of unpredictable and hypnotic arrangements. They know just how far to push the eccentricities of their sound, allowing "Pilgrim" to fluidly transition from ritualistic Middle-Eastern folk to bone-splintering distortion. Messa essentially does what Dead Can Dance does to darkwave, building bridges from doom to world music with impassioned melodicism and nuanced songwriting.

As proven by the unhinged fret-work and bombastic beat-switches of "Rubedo," Messa can summon a head-spinning cavalcade without the ethnic folk element. They treat their genre-blending as a natural extension of their artistry, not a crutch. Take the interludes "Hollow" and "Leffotrak" for instance. The former paints a picture of arid oceans of sand with its protracted acoustic guitar impressions, while the latter guns the throttle with 45 seconds of ferocious grindcore. Neither come expectedly for a stoner band, but both illustrate Messa's drive to test the boundaries of a vast musical landscape.

It pays to create a mystical world worth moseying through when faced with a 10-and-a-half minute journey like "0=2." Messa suburge listeners ever deeper into rustic spiritualism, driving shamanic doom-folk to a fever pitch via Giorgio Trombino's searing saxophone solos, a la The Beatles' "She's So Heavy" with the "oh no, the vinyl record can't fit the whole outro" hard cut.

Trombino returns with a duduk, the traditional Armenian woodwind instrument, to set the mood for slow-burner "Orphalese." The song imbues unplugged Middle-Eastern folk music with nimble melodic chops, blurring the line between folk instruments like mandolines, ouds and dulcimers and heavy rock. Bianchin's bewitching becomes the glue for these eclectic pieces, weaving through the jam with authentic timbre and intense personality.

For all the unorthodox detours Messa takes, cuts like "If You Want Her To Be Taken" succeed on prog-doom merits. Slide guitar coyly follows Bianchin descending lines, dropping without warning into full-on apocalyptic blues. Abusive chugs give way to tear jerking leads, culminating in an urgent triplet crescendo and… a blast beat???

It's no small feat to bring Pink Floyd, Eyehategod and Chelsea Wolfe on the same track, but Messa pulls it off with a distinctive twist. Closing cut "Serving Him" achieves a similar effect, with its doom-rock riffs cutting through occultish gloom like it's 1970. The album's final three minutes encapsulate the quartet's remarkable chemistry, punctuating crunchy modulations with an expressive guitar solo and forlorn ambiance.

While they aren't the first band to cross world music with doom, Messa managed to do it without sounding like they had to. In addition to its surprising aesthetics flair, Close contains some of Messa's most well-written songs to date. It's not just an interesting experiment, but the sound of a band fleshing out their place in doom metal's past, present and future. In this article: Messa