MESSA’s bold new album The Spin blends ‘80s goth textures with their signature style. Now signed to Metal Blade Records, the band continues pushing boundaries—without compromising their artistic freedom.
1. ‘The
Spin’ marks your debut with Metal Blade Records. How has joining this legendary
label influenced the band’s approach or vision for this album?
To be
honest, signing with Metal Blade has not, by any means, influenced our creative
process on ‘The Spin’. One thing is crucial for our band, and that is having
complete freedom of choice in regards to the material we want to play or write.
We don’t want to receive any direction on our sound. This being said, we are
very honored to be part of Metal Blade's roster. It really is a legendary label
that has released many milestone albums since the 1980s. We are glad to have a
chance to collaborate with such a prestigious label.
2. You
recorded this album differently than your previous releases, opting for
multiple locations instead of playing together in one room. How did this change
affect the creative process and the final sound?
‘The Spin’
was recorded throughout the whole summer of 2024 and it took quite a bit to
complete. We never worked in separate sessions before but we've found out that
it helps us concentrate a lot more. We jumped into our own parts with full
focus and we put a lot of attention to detail. The amount of time we had has
paid off, especially in the guitar solos. Alberto has recorded his parts in one
week instead of rushing through his tracking only at the end of the studio time
given. He had the chance to work out his own arrangements in depth.
3. Your
music has always blended various influences, but this time you explored an '80s
goth rock vibe. What drew you to that era, and how did you incorporate its
essence while keeping MESSA’s signature sound?
The 80’s
sonic territory was an uncharted one for the band. We never delved fully into
it when it came to writing our own material. We felt this thing was kind of a
call to experiment something new. We have never been a traditional metal band anyways,
so why not giving it a shot? That's why we decided to add the chorus effect on
pretty much everything, the gated reverb on the snare and, also, to gravitate
towards structures that rely on some peculiar suspended chords. We moved out of
our comfort zone with the sounds and the “colour” we wanted to give to our
songs, but still, there are some key points in our writing process. The
dynamics and the song structures are somewhat similar to our past works and,
last but not least, we kept the same tuning on our instruments.
To be totally honest, we don’t think the setting has shaped our writing process that much. The latter hasn't changed a lot since we started. We, for one, were able to really focus on composing and delving into the arrangements for a longer time span compared to our previous efforts, thus accelerating the whole writing process of the album, which took loosely two years. Most of it happened during the last summer, though.
5.
You’ve mentioned a rule of avoiding repetition in songwriting. How did this
principle push you creatively, and were there any moments where breaking that
rule felt necessary?
Some songs
were ditched in the writing process because they were too ‘standard’
Messa-sounding. It would have been too easy. Changing some of our gear was
useful in order to push our creative boundaries: we used as much 1980s equipment
as possible, from the mixing console to the gated reverb on the drums,
incorporating synthesizers and so on... this choice surely helped us expand our
sonic palette. We also wanted the album to be sharp, incisive and shorter than
our previous works. It had to fit in a single 12” from the get-go.
6. ‘The
Spin’ features guest contributions from Michele Tedesco and Andrea Mantione.
How did these collaborations come about, and what did they bring to the album’s
atmosphere?
Michele and
Alberto got to know each other while studying Jazz Music. We thought that a
dialogue between this instrument and guitar could work out as an interesting
element on the song ‘The Dress’. The trumpet is not a ‘traditional’ metal
instrument for sure. It turned out great, we gave him total freedom of choice
and he did a great job.
Andrea is a
musician we esteem a lot. We’ve known his work for many years (from Nuovo
Testamento and Horror Vacui, to Tuono and Komplott) and we’re fans of his
projects. We proposed to collaborate for a synthesizer part on ‘Fire On The
Roof’, he worked with a theme idea we had given him. He rearranged some parts
of it and used his own synth sound, giving a twist to the song. We’re very
happy with the result.
We like the
idea of having roots in a specific genre, evolving our identity into something
different each and every time.
Not an easy
task for sure! Since the inception of the project, we willingly put less and
less conventional elements in our songs. Every record sounds different. It’s
also a consequence of our hunger when it comes to personal music taste too.
8. With
over a decade behind you and four full-length albums, how do you feel MESSA has
evolved as a band, both musically and personally?
We went
through so much in these ten years, both on a personal and musical level. We
are identical, but at the same time we’re totally different. We always shared a
strong vision that made us overcome many difficulties. Being friends before
being ‘colleagues’ helped a lot too. We still have something to say, a lot to
learn, and grow. As far as we're concerned, though, you never ‘get anywhere’
and there's always room for something new.
9. Your
live performances are known for their immersive energy. How do you translate
the depth and atmosphere of your recorded material into a live setting?
We plan to use some of the equipment we employed in the studio for our live sets too. We want the future shows to have a distinctive sound in order to respect the ideas and mindset of ‘The Spin’. But we are also conscious we’re a four-piece rock band: you just keep the elements that really matter. It’s impossible to sound exactly like the studio album - and it’s also ok to be this way. One thing is sure though: when we play a concert, we’re 100% into it.
10. ‘The
Spin’ is about to be released to the world. What do you hope listeners take
away from this album, and what’s next for MESSA in 2024?
We can’t
wait to play these new songs in a live setting, it’s going to be a new
adventure. We’ll have the chance to play the whole album at Roadburn 2025, in
Tilburg (NL) next April and we’re very excited about it.
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