Messa & Support: Church Of Mental Enlightment
Messa’s rising trajectory hits the stratosphere on their immense new album “Close”. Soaring up out of the Italian Doom Rock underground in 2014, Messa have been rapidly garnering a frenzied throng of devotees, in thrall to their monumental and broad-ranging sound craft. Releasing two widely celebrated cult records, the latest of which “Feast For Water” in 2018 was a critical breakthrough success, with Rolling Stone calling the whole album “captivating, wringing maximum drama out of its savvy stylistic clash,” Messa have had everyone on tenterhooks, waiting for what was next.
New album “Close” draws us further into Messa’s spellbinding textures and immersive dynamics. Described as “Stevie Nicks fronting Black Sabbath,” singer Sara’s colossal voice omnipotently carries the listener on an emotional rollercoaster ride where the sonic cauldron of Iommi guitars gives way to Arabian oudh and progressive solos in a masterful style-clash that well befits Messa’s incendiary reputation.
The hushed Fender Rhodes piano intro on opener “Suspended,” picks up where Messa left off on their previous album “Feast For Water” but then collapses gloriously into Jazz guitar and widescreen impassioned crushing riffs, lighting our way for the odyssey ahead. The scene is set magnificently for the journey that “Close” expertly takes the listener on, with Messa’s obvious care and passion for the album as a pilgrimage of sonic experience. Heavyweight tracks like “If You Want Her To Be Taken” or “0=2” are modern Doom Rock classics that expertly upgrade and leave the genre reeling in their wake. “Pilgrim” and “Orphalese” are woven with tapestries of Mediterranean sounds where oudh and eastern chord phrasings expand Messa’s cinematic palette with a panache that is all their own. Atmospheric and grandiose belters like “Rubedo” and “Dark Horse” build into an almost limitless climax of discord and harmony where blast beats and saxophones descend into a thrilling cacophony that’s a masterclass in artful cutting edge Doom.
Referencing bands like Dead Can Dance, Swans and Om, Messa have created an album where song, experience and atmosphere are focused into a crystalline modus where high art flawlessly embraces good old fashioned riff-worship. Transcending the occult and noir-tinted atmospheres of their past works, “Close” confidently weaves Messa’s multifarious influences into a singular breath-taking sound that leaves the listener enthralled. Perfection or something extremely close, Messa’s “Close” is not just a Metal record, but it’s definitely one of the best things to break out of the confines of Metal in a long time.
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Support: CHURCH OF MENTAL ENLIGHTMENT
“From the gutters of Leipzig’s punk establishment, 4 friends were chosen to shine light upon the deadness of contemporary heavy rock music.
It´s been January 2014, the hardcore punk school trips were over and almost every youth center in Europe played. It was time for something new and of course, in tribute to our heroes of the late 60s, even more raw. We met in a bar, back then it was only Daniel João and me, Andy Joseph. We knew each other through skateboarding and different bands that we shared stages with the years before. We actually never played together in a band, that´s why we decided to meet at the rehearsal room and jam. In fact that we were able to play different instruments, we kept on swapping while jamming and the first tunes were laid down relatively quick. But due to the fact that a project of two people constantly swapping instruments does not really make a band, we were lucky enough to meet Caroline Volk at her birthday party on May 3rd. It only took a party and a hangover to find ourselves in the rehearsal room the next day. Not even two weeks later 20 minutes of material were ready to be shared with the world. The first show followed up in August. Quickly we noticed that we were quite limited in three. Our buddy Fabian Neugebauer has already been supplying us with some raw blues material and he was able to play the keys. So we forced the idea of giving the church an organ. Two rehearsals later we were on stage as a four piece. Since then we started playing with and without keys, sometimes there are some people more on stage, but on thing stood the same… and that’s preaching D.I.Y.-stamina.”
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