MESSA — Belfry (review)

MESSA — Belfry album cover Album · 2016 · Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
adg211288
Following in the footsteps left by acts such as Jex Thoth and Blood Ceremony, Italian act Messa is the latest in the current run of female fronted doom metal acts to make waves within the metal scene, a group of that also includes Mount Salem, Avatarium and by extension some heavy psych acts like Purson and Jess and the Ancient Ones. Belfry (2016) is the group's debut album.

I'll be honest, I really was put off by Belfry with it's opening track Alba, as it's more of a drone piece consisting of slow fuzzing guitars and gets dragged out for an all too long four and a half minutes. Fortunately things take a massive U-turn for the better with Babalon when the doom metal and more importantly actual song-writing and riffs kick in. Drone and other assorted ambience is heard again on the album, but somehow it works a lot better once Messa have served up some actual songs to digest. Four and a half minutes of it waiting for things to properly kick off isn't very pleasurable to my ears, as I just feel like screaming at the band to get on with it. But boy when they do begin do they ever deliver.

From this point Belfry is an excellent debut release from Messa. With their fuzzy sounding guitar tone the band are closest in style of Jex Thoth's first album out of all the female fronted doom metal acts of recent years I've heard, but I feel that they have their own thing going for them. For a doom metal band they can actually get pretty lively at times such as during Hour of the Wolf where after starting slow and non-metallic they actually ramp up the pace beyond doom metal standards, before descending back into doom and then ending on another faster section full of soloing, giving the song four distinct sections. This is one of the clear highlights of the album, but it's instantly bettered by the haunting Blood, the album's longest song, which also threw me with its unconventional instrumentation for doom. It's a track that I kinda feel like I should describe in more detail in this review, but I won't as I think everyone should be allowed to experience it the same way I did. Another track I really like is Confess which closes the album and is an acoustic piece, a nice way to end the experience.

Given how much I disliked the opener I wasn't expecting to be writing such a positive review at this point, but that just goes to show how quickly things can turn around. It is a pity about Alba as for me its a throwaway track that means my overall regard for Belfry takes a small hit, but otherwise it's a promising debut from Messa, with the moments of brilliance by far outweighing the drawbacks.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
adg211288 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Looks like it, yeah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reschensee
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Isn´t that the bell tower in Reschensee? I´ve been to that place on Holiday when I was a child.
adg211288 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
You can already stream the song Blood: https://soundcloud.com/aural-music-937888921
666sharon666 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Sounds intriguing. I'll have to remember to check them out when the album is released.

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

… And the Universe Keeps Silent Death Metal
MAERE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Le bannissement Atmospheric Black Metal
CANTIQUE LÉPREUX
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 8 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 8 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 8 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 11 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 11 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed