LIVE FROM THE PIT: Messa and The Night Eternal

As the cold descended on Manchester, so did Italian band MESSA, for a midweek offering of doom metal with a side of heavy metal from German band THE NIGHT ETERNAL. With their latest release The Spin coming out last year, the audience had definitely had a good amount of time to digest the new album and get hyped to hear the songs performed live.

Starting off the evening were THE NIGHT ETERNAL, with only one support band to get the crowd warmed up for the headliners, these guys didn’t disappoint. The German heavy metallers set the stage with THE CURE’s Cold, easing us into what was to come from their set. While the band are metal through and through, the dark and melancholic undertones and gothic rock elements flowed throughout their set, especially through the tracks from their latest release Cold Velvet. Eurydice (Don’t Look Back) is a good example of this, with post punk influenced riffs which blend into a more classic heavy metal guitar solo.

Each song was truly unique, with songs like The Watcher of the Burning Veil leaning back into the classic heavy metal sound. This paired with an array of catchy choruses had the audience gripped from start to finish, songs like Caught In A Spell helped cover these bases and also offered an almost 80s nostalgic feel, which went down very well with the crowd. The band’s stage presence was phenomenal, with frontman Ricardo Baum commanding the room with ease, power and plenty of infectious headbanging, and of course the rest of the band following suit.

Up next were MESSA, despite the two floors in Rebellion, everyone packed onto the main floor to behold the Italian doom metal band, and this spoke volumes to how excited people were to see the band perform, with it being nearly a full year since the band last performed in Manchester at the 20th anniversary of Damnation Festival. The turnout was also testament to the mark that the band are leaving on the genre as a whole, quickly on their way to becoming a staple band in the scene and rightfully so given their performance.

The band needed little introduction, beginning slow and steady with Babalon. Minimalism was a stand out feature of the show, with darkness shrouding the stage and intermittent lighting of primarily reds, white and purple, setting the gloomy atmosphere needed to perfectly compliment the expertly crafted doom riffs. In a contrast of pacing, vocalist Sara Bianchin didn’t hesitate to get straight into a trio of songs from their latest offering, beginning with At Races, a song which forms a storyline followed up by The Dress, which starts to bring in jazz influences as they are joined by a saxophone player. Thicker Blood completes the trio from the album, Sara’s hypnotic yet emotional vocals shine through especially in this track, backed with stunning guitar work from Alberto Piccolo and an explosive solo, perfectly complimented by Marco Zanin’s bass runs and Rocco Toldo’s punchy drums. This wasn’t the last we’d hear of the album for this show, as we were treated to Void Meridian as the penultimate track of the night, one of the dancier tracks that they had to offer.

The crowd were static for most of the set, entirely down to the fact they were captivated by what laid before them, a masterclass in modern doom metal. The melancholic soaring vocals of Snakeskin Drape closed out the night due to lack of encore, of which Hour of the Wolf would have had its time to shine, this left the crowd lingering and craving more after the hour long set.

Words and Photos: Libby Percival