Messa - The Spin (2025)^{Release ID: 58900}

When you are guilty of the unpunishable crime of producing one of the most moving and memorable albums of a particular year, an artist must mine the very depths of their creativity to provide a follow up of any worthy repute. When Messa dropped Close in 2022, they were already two records into their career - two records which I have not heard to date incidentally – and produced an album that topped many AOTY polls and lists, my own included. Unafraid of boundaries and unwilling to accept much in the way of limitations on their sound, the Italians showed us all just how extensive their range was. Making it all sound so damn cool whilst putting this authentic exploration of their musical palate was just the icing on the cake really. Inadvertently, this set up the challenge of one day having to follow Close up and upon my first few listens to The Spin my opinion was that they had hit the exact wall that I feared they would.

The gothic tropes of the bands 2025 record were the first hurdle for me. Musically such a style does not sit all that well with me and, initially at least, this more sombre edge to proceedings seemed to rob the record of the same level of passion that its predecessor was awash with. It felt like between records, some alignment process had been undertaken in Messa’s life meaning that they were now drifting away from the wonderful connection we had once shared. I could hear the lead work of Piccolo clearly enough, but the feeling that had emanated from them so plentifully on Close seemed numbed somehow. After a few listens, I stepped away from The Spin altogether, resolute that my enjoyment of Messa was going to be limited, for now at least, to that one record.

Curiosity may have allegedly killed the cat but it sure as hell is the saviour of many album reviewers, I am sure when it comes to giving records a second chance. And so, I came back to The Spin recently. Reviews I had caught elsewhere still talked about the merit of the record. It did take a couple of super-critical listens, but this time it finally clicked. It is not as good as Close, I doubt they will ever top that record if I am totally honest. Yet those shades of grey that are applied this time around do not hinder the expression of the record anywhere near as much as I initially thought. It feels eclectic enough still, despite their being a more accessible if not all that mainstream vibe to it. Emotions are never quite at the point of being super-charged like they were on the previous album, yet they are not lost by any means. If anything, Messa are just showing that bit of maturity I mentioned earlier, losing some child like view of the wonder of their own soul in the process perhaps.

It is still well written, far too well written in fact for anyone to be unimpressed I would say. The musicianship is top-notch and the vocal delivery of Sara is perhaps the only element in here that I sense is dialled back a little from last time. If you look at The Spin as a standalone record, then it is no doubt going to hit the higher end of the scoresheet and in some ways, it is criminal to drop points off my final number based on a comparison of a previous record. Talented individuals when brought together in the right environment make great records and that’s what Messa have managed here, regardless.

Messa's previous album, 2022's "Close" was my AOTY for that year and is one of my favourite albums of the current decade. So expectations were high for their new full-length and while it would be going too far to say I was disappointed with it, initially it fell a little bit short of my undoubtedly unrealistic expectations. Now that I have had some time to really get to grips with it my early lukewarm reaction feels a bit reactionary because "The Spin" has grown on me massively and, whilst not yet quite up there with "Close", it has still proven itself to be a damn fine record.

Leaning more into gothic territory than previously, "The Spin" is not as heavy or doomy as "Close" and is more hook-driven than the earlier album, but the interweaving of various non-metal influences is still present. Whilst undoubtedly an entire band effort, I felt that vocalist Sara Bianchin was the star of "Close", but here I think the big draw is Alberto Piccolo's fantastic guitar work. He unleashes several scintillating solos with "Immolation" and "Void Meridian" being particularly sterling examples, his riffing is spot on and his jangling guitar work is so reminiscent of the 1980's UK gothic rock scene that you would swear that Billy Duffy or Wayne Hussey had guested on the album. Piccolo also plays blues rock under the name "Little Albert" and his slide work on penultimate track "Reveal" suggests he is also proficient in that scene too.

There does seem to be a specific direction of travel to "The Spin". It begins with the emphasis very much on the gothic, specifically the opening brace of "Void Meridian" and "At Races" and the album feels as much about gothic rock as metal, with "Void Meridian" coming on like Siouxsie and the Banshees - tell me the opening bass line doesn't sound like the beginning of "Spellbound"! As the album progresses, though, it starts to move in a heavier direction, culminating with the one-two combo of the album's out and out heaviest track, "The Reveal" and the doomy "Thicker Blood". Along the way though we are treated to tracks that include the band's trademark dalliances with other diverse elements such as blues and jazz, meaning we are never going to get bored or complacent about where the band are going. They even reference Rush and in particular "La Villa Strangiato" from 1978's "Hemispheres" during the album's epic centrepiece, "The Dress" whilst the first half of "Immolation" is a piano ballad that Tori Amos would be proud of.

I sometimes get the feeling with some primarily metal artists who often look to incorporate a lot of non-metal elements that they are almost embarrassed to be tagged as metal, but I never feel that with Messa and despite their eclecticism they feel like a band who revel in their metal roots, even whilst it isn't the totality of their playbook. Sure, I am generally a bit of a caveman when it comes to metal. I love cavernous, old-school death metal, frigid and raw blasting black metal, crawling and monolithic doom, chugging thrash riffs and anthemic, singalong-at-the-top-of-your-voice classic metal choruses, but I am not a complete philistine and I am perfectly capable of enjoying bands who want to bring more to the table. I just prefer when they do it in a listenable way rather than making their albums into a test of the listener's endurance for discomfort. Thankfully, listenability is still an important quality to Messa and their eclecticism is not at the expense of accessibility. "The Spin" may not be an album that initially grabs the average metalhead by the throat, but it does reward those who spend time with it and ultimately reveals itself to be the product of a band who are eminently skillful musicians and songwriters that, despite weaving their metal with influences from bygone days, still produce exceedingly modern-sounding metal.