Italian doom metal band Messa releases new live video for »Thicker Blood« from Freak Valley Festival 2026

Italian doom metal quartet Messa premieres new live video for »Thicker Blood« from their performance at Freak Valley Festival 2026.

»Thicker Blood« is taken from Messa’s fourth studio album, »The Spin«, out on April 11th, 2025 via Metal Blade Records.

The band comments: “Our concert at Freak Valley Festival, back in June this year, was filmed by the legendary Rockpalast. Founded in the 1970s in West Germany, it’s a show broadcasting live music. Hundreds of bands performed Rockpalast, spanning through various genres. From Rory Gallagher, Kraftwerk and Can, to majestic krautrock, early electronic music, jazz, funk, heavy metal… you name it.

It’s basically one of the biggest existing (and free) archives of European music. Countless are the hours of our own time we spent watching videos of incredible musicianship portrayed in this show. When we got to know we’d be filmed by Rockpalast, you can easily imagine our enthusiasm.”

Courtesy of Earsplit PR:

Messa’s signature sound absorbs influences from jazz and blues, punk and prog, and black metal and dark ambient, but their restless experimentalism has extraordinarily smooth and assured results. »The Spin« incorporates another new element, interpolating an ‘80s goth rock vibe in typically full-blooded fashion. “We don’t like to repeat ourselves and we constantly try to find a new language to express while keeping our identity,” stresses the band. “This time we delved into a territory we had never explored before, which is the decade of the 1980s. We are aware that many bands before us took inspiration from that era, but we decided to be careless and run away with it mainly because we get involved and question what we do. We are not part of the ‘dark scene’ in any way. The influence for this record looks back to the early goth rock/dark wave rather than the later emanations of the genre.” In addition to Sisters Of Mercy and Virgin Prunes, the band cites records by Killing Joke, Mercyful Fate, Jimmy Page, Journey, The Sound, Boy Harsher, and Vangelis as impacting significantly upon the creation of »The Spin«.

Decibel Magazine championed, “a sweeping statement that draws equally from doom and goth rock, with hefty doses of classic heavy metal and jazz thrown in.” Deaf Forever concurred, praising the band’s, “strongest album to date,” that, “definitively establishes Messa as one of the most exciting and creative bands of the modern era.” New Noise Magazine hailed, ”a deeply rewarding album from a band whose time has come,” further elaborating, “…though all of their output makes for easy recommendations, it’s »The Spin« that finally shoulders Messa out of the niche, best-kept-secret parameters they’ve been snagged in and onwards towards the oh, so elite, ‘many are called but few are chosen’ province of unequivocal, rock n’ roll preeminence. This is analogous to Soundgarden’s flight path from »Badmotorfinger« to »Superunknown«.” Added Metal Hammer Germany, “Anyone who appreciates the free-spirited combination of an exceptional voice with plenty of quiet moments and some blaring riffs will find Messa to be the perfect band.”

»The Spin« earned a host of year end list spots globally including #2 on Decibel Magazine’s Top 40 Of 2025 and #5 on Metal Injection’s 2025 Albums Of The Year and has surpassed 4 million streams within a year on Spotify alone.

»The Spin« is available now on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. Get the album at metalblade.com/messa.

Messa is:
Sara – Vocals
Marco – Guitars/Bass
Alberto – Guitars
Rocco – Drums

US tour dates w/ Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats:
10/05/2026 Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI **
10/06/2026 Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON
10/07/2026 Theatre Beanfield – Montreal, QC
10/08/2026 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
10/09/2026 Nevermore Hall – Baltimore, MD
10/10/2026 Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA **
10/11/2026 Irving Plaza – New York, NY
** Messa headlining date

EU/UK tour dates:
w/ special guest The Night Eternal
10/27/2026 Le Dodu – Marseille, FR
10/28/2026 Sala Salamandra – Barcelona, ES
10/29/2026 Sala Copernico – Madrid, ES
10/30/2026 Antirouille – Montpellier, FR
10/31/2026 Westill Fest – Nantes, FR
11/01/2026 Petit Bain – Paris, FR
11/03/2026 Cathouse – Glasgow, UK
11/04/2026 Rebellion – Manchester, UK
11/05/2026 Rescue Rooms – Nottingham, UK
11/06/2026 Thekla – Bristol, UK
11/07/2026 The Garage – London, UK
11/09/2026 13 – Tilburg, NL
11/10/2026 Kavka – Antwerp, BE
11/12/2026 Franz Club – Berlin, DE
11/13/2026 Logo – Hamburg, DE
11/14/2026 Rockpalast – Bochum, DE
11/15/2026 Artheater – Cologne, DE
11/17/2026 Das Bett – Frankfurt, DE
11/18/2026 Backstage Club – Munich, DE
11/19/2026 Dynamo – Zurich, CH
11/21/2026 Live Club – Trezzo sull’Adda, IT

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well