They have monikered their own specific style of gloom “scarlet doom”. Unlike many other occult doom acts spearheaded by a female vocalist, Messa does not linger in seventies styled retro rock trappings like we have seen in for instance Jex Thoth or Witch Mountain, which is a good thing I believe, as this has become somewhat stale and overused by now.

Messa rather marries their gloomy art to blues and jazz particularly. This is an aspect that is especially brought through the fore on Sara Bianchin’s soulful vocals that are a million miles away from what you normally would expect in the doom genre.

As the cliché goes, artist are often their own harshest critics and this definitely goes for Messa as well. Devotingly committed to not repeating themselves across records or even in between songs, they have successfully managed to instill each album with a unique taste and feel.

On the previous record ‘Close’ this is illustrated for instance by the infusion of mediterranean or even eastern melodies, whereas on the ‘The Spin’ they take in a new influence from the music of the eighties. Now, I don’t mean the poppy side of radio friendly hit, but rather the post punk or early goth acts like Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees or the Sisters of Mercy.

Signing to a bigger label like Metal Blade should also allow a few more doors to be opened for them.

The album opens with ‘Void Meridian’ which immediately makes a point to consolidate this goth influence as well as give testimony to how fantastic a vocalist miss Bianchin truly is. Honestly, one minute into this record and I was hooked.

‘At Races’ also got a video and kicks of in similar proto-goth fashion as the opening track, before it reminds us all that they’re still a doom band and even finish off with a superb solo.

For ‘Fire on the Roof’ I had to check if I hadn’t accidently put on Priest with its infectious synthwave motif.  In a rather dynamic juxtaposition it then quickly evolves to be the most hardhitting tracks on the album.

‘Immolation’ is not a homage to one of US finest death metal exports. In fact, it’s not even heavy at all. It brings back the more jazzy influences, sounding like a song that could have been performed in the wee hours at some shady night club with, of course, a prime place in the spotlight for their wonderful singer.

‘The Dress’ is the second track that got the video treatment. It’s more of a slow burning composition, with some delightful vocal harmonies, pretty doomy guitars and in the second half again some full-on jazz. Clocking in over eight minutes it’s also one of the more drawn out songs on the record. On the video you even get a extra final curveball thrown right at the end where Sara swaps her sweeping singing for an intimate reading of introspective poetry.

From a lyrical note I found it interesting she has taken some pointers from renowned or should I say notorious American author Cormac McArthy (‘Blood Meridian’, for instance)

‘The Reveal’ opens up as a delta blues song from the deep south and I don’t mean Naples. That is until frenetic riffing drives this thing onwards to bring it full circle back to the southern rock of the intro, but with a scorching spin.

The intro to the last song ‘Thicker Blood’ could be mistaken for a lost track from the Twin Peaks soundtrack  with its brooding drone in the background that in another almost whopping nine minutes tries to summarizes everything that is so great about them, from soaring vocals and lush melodies to an unbridled desire for experimentation.

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