November 2021 Feature Release – The Fallen Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Fallen has been nominated by Sonny. It's the 2018 sophomore album "Feast For Water" from Italian doom metallers Messa.

https://metal.academy/releases/16713

It has been a while since I found myself looking forward to a new featured release in the Fallen clan, but Sonny has been on a roll with recommending high quality doom metal with Solstice, M.S.W. and the wonderful KING WITCH album Body of Light from last year that was recently featured on RYM's front page.

So when I saw Sonny's stamp of approval on this one, I was excited to hear it. And at first I was surprised to see "Dark Jazz" listed as a subgenre for this album on RYM. My limited knowledge of this genre leads me to believe that it is the deeply atmospheric type of jazz that you hear prominently on TV and in movies. So hearing it implemented over these doom stylings was a breath of fresh air. Interludes on "Leah" and "The Seer" are very ethereal with Rhodes keys and extended chordal harmonies, which are also provided by the vocals of Sara Bianchin. And I'll be damned if they aren't pulled off remarkably well! This album feels very restrained; only barely passing by as a "metal" album as the records heaviest moments never hit with the same intensity or firepower as a band such as Swallow the Sun, or the best of doom metal The Ruins of Beverast. So while the heavier portions might not be as wild, it makes the calming jazz interludes less gimmicky.

As a result, the songwriting is very good. While some of the earliest tracks (i.e. "Snakeskin Drape" & "Leah") have some questionable transitions, they never feel like they have come out of left field, and they are always duplicated, making them feel less like interludes, but rather a part of the whole. "She Knows" has a wonderful buildup leading into "Tulsi", which starts off with tremolo picking/blast beats, but eventually tampers down to a saxophone solo that makes full use of the extended harmony above a relatively simple bass line. The album's second half is considerably improved from the first, including the outro "Da tariki tariqat", which may be one of the best Tool impressions I've heard in a long time.

That said, the production is not the most flattering. The bass lines feel like they are being pushed out rather quickly and have no time to resonate. Take for example, the outro of "Tulsi" with its saxophone solo: the instrumental sounds fine and the accents are powerful, but they die far too quickly while the guitar is still allowed to reverberate. It gives the illusion of depth, but when the bass lines are so simplistic in a doom metal idiom, they can get annoying fast. I think this album's best moments are the closest to traditional doom metal with limited progressive jazz like "White Stains".

Overall, I think the experiments on Feast for Water are exciting and fresh, but not executed with the same amount of precision as a Cult of Luna, or to keep with the jazz influence, Neptunian Maximalism. This group has potential to be breathtaking and I am at the very least, looking forward to a potential new album next year.

7/10

Yeah, great feature release selection this one Sonny. A really intriguing & refreshing listen. I love the combination of influences. We've got early Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin style blues rock, Pink Floyd, Bohren & der Club of Gore, Mazzy Star, early Dead Can Dance & even a bit of post-rock,  all combined with what I'd describe as more of a stoner rock backbone than I would a doom metal one. It's very well executed, extremely consistent & thoroughly enjoyable too. Nothing sounds at all out of place here. I'm not sure I'd say that the jazz component amounts to "dark jazz". I used to listen to a fair bit of that subgenre & this stuff isn't really very dark in comparison. I think I'd go with "deep jazz" instead. Anyway.... this may not actually be a metal record as such but Sonny's The Fallen form continues with no end in sight.

For fans of Witch Mountain, Windhand & Frayle.

4/5

I chose this as a featured release because I am particularly fond of the Italian take on doom metal and more specifically I like that Messa have tried to do something different with one of the more stale doom metal sub-genres, ie female-fronted stoner doom where nearly every new band seems to want to be Windhand so they just recycle the same old tropes and very rarely come up with much new and exciting. Anyway I've posted a review which I will repost here:

Italian metal and specifically doom metal, has a fantastic ability to throw us fans a few curve balls now and again - Paul Chain anyone? Messa are another band that attempts to push the envelope and do something a little different with tried and tested metal tropes, in this case female-fronted doom metal which has been very much in vogue over the last few years and has become a bit tired and stale as a sub-genre as successive acts merely regurgitate what has gone before with little attempt to produce anything new or exciting. So when a release like Feast for Water comes along it is like a genuine breath of fresh air.

Following a short intro, the first track proper is Snakeskin Drape which is the most metal track and is fairly orthodox doom within the context of this album. To be honest, despite it being a decent slab of metal, if the rest of the album sounded like this I certainly wouldn't regard it as highly, as there are bands who do the straight-up female-fronted doom thing much better. I presume the track's placement is to ease the listener into the album and not to scare them off by getting too diverse from the outset. The subsequent track Leah also has a very heavy intro, but from then on things become a little less typical as the song alternates between gentle minimalism and crooned vocals to reverb-laden heavy chords with a more earnest vocal.

Messa prove more than willing to bring in other, more mainstream, influences from outside of the metal sphere, such as during the bluesy Seer, but they aren't merely a bolt-on effect to possibly add more mass appeal, rather they become a synergy between the heavier, metal-based material and the more traditional musical styles resulting in seamless transitions between the contrasting styles. She knows has a kind of smooth jazz feel, led by Alberto's gentle piano keys and Sara crooning vocals, being punctuated by a heavy riff-led chorus before segueing into the intriguing Tulsi which begins with what almost amounts to a blast beat and a soaring guitar solo before settling down into it's main riff. The track eventually returns to the jazzy vibe of She knows and actually ends with a brilliant saxophone solo. White Stains has the most memorable riff and chorus and is one of the album's heavier tracks. Closing track Da Tariki Tariqat is an instrumental affair, heavily flavoured with a middle-eastern vibe that builds in intensity to it's zenith and a final release.

The songwriting is excellent, the technical prowess is flawless and Sara Bianchin's vocals are a treat. Messa really are a bit of one-off and are very Italian in their approach to metal, being unafraid to incorporate other influences and take the music to places more cautious and conservative acts would fear to tread. It may not ultimately be to everyone's taste but I applaud the band for their vision and a genuine attempt to push the envelope of what has become an increasingly stale sub-genre.

8/10

I really enjoyed this one as it was much more complex and ethereal than the common sludgy/stoner album, propped up by a fantastic performance by Sara Bianchin and more jazzy influences like the always welcome sax solo in "Tulsi". While they don't necessarily riff as hard as other bands in their field, that's not necessarily Messa's focus, with most of my enjoyment coming out of the slower, more layered sections with a beautiful chord structure that gives Feast for Water an exquisite but still eerie sound. The overall theme of this album is properly supported the whole way through and while it does get a bit boring during tracks like "White Stains" and "The Seer", I appreciate the sound Messa are trying for. The guitar licks and melodies hearken back to old jazz and blues rhythms and are sufficiently dirty in their own right before transitioning into more sludgy distortion. A really cool pick for a feature and one that I'll have to go back to. 

4/5