Band:	Messa
Album:	Feast For Water
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	April 2018

01. Naunet
02. Snakeskin Drape
03. Leah
04. The Seer
05. She Knows
06. Tulsi
07. White Stains
08. De Tariki Tariqat

Messa surprised a lot of people with their debut a few years ago, but now we know their trick, so do they follow it up with an even more adventurous release or more of the same? Let's find out!

If you remember 2016's Belfry, it was a really fun doom metal album, as much as doom metal albums can be fun, in that it combined drone with female-fronted traditional doom, thus keeping both of the two elements from seeming generic. Now that we'd no longer be surprised by that blend, they bring us Feast For Waters, and I can say right off the bat, while it doesn't bring much new to the formula, it refines it quite a bit.

For one, the thing that strikes me most is how much the production makes the album sound almost elegant in certain sections, mostly in the less metal ones, which are handled way better sound-wise - not to say that the metal sections sound bad, sometimes you'd want a little more fuzz, but the drone sections are amazing and certain more moody sections that aren't drone sound almost jazzy, and production-wise they're absolutely spectacular, like certain sections of "Leah" and "She Knows". There are even extreme metal nods complete with caveman grunts in the beginning of "Tulsi".

And this is one great thing about Feast For Waters. While it sadly cut down a bit on the drone sections, it manages to fit in all these jazzy sections (yes, there's a saxophone, so it's jazz) to complement the bluesier, sludgish doom, giving the songwriting a lot of dynamism, and thus none of the 7-plus-minute tracks feel overstretched. Couple that with how Sara's vocals have improved slightly since Belfry and that should already make this a worthy follow-up. Sure, female-fronted sludgish trad doom metal is nothing new, but everything about how Feast For Waters works makes it sound new.

Sure, not everything is perfect in this album. For one, I still feel there is a bit of untapped potential in the blending of genres, something which I hope to see more of in the next album. But really the album's biggest flaw is the flow. The album begins in the same vein as Belfry, but doesn't manage to capitalise on the drone intro the same way that its predecessor did, and also with the strongest four tracks in the middle, the album feels like it drags on a bit and then it ends instead of reaching a satisfying climax. Also some of the guitar playing, especially in the solos, breaks the mood of the album a bit. But what am I saying? More often than not these minor flaws do nothing to drag down the album's strengths.

All in all, Messa built upon the strengths of their debut, giving us an album that shines despite its minor flaws, due to amazing songwriting and sound engineering, Sara's otherworldly wails, and the inclusion of a few new sounds and instruments.