Massa – Psyche
Self-released – 2023
Instrumental, Rock, Post, Doom, Stoner, Sludge
Rated: ****
They threw me off balance with their second to last, nine-minute-long, Soma track. The ‘Something for your mind, your body and your soul…’ speech they incorporate there had me searching for the original of that speech. Of course, it had me remember some techno or hardcore dance song from somewhere in the early nineties. But that could not be start, could it? I actually thought for a moment that Dutch trio Massa had discovered it in some antique highly psychedelic movie somewhere. But my search was never very fruitful and it then continued in a very weird way to move through my mind, in which it moved through my brain and wreaked havoc on my Psyche. Which, to be honest, hasn’t been in the best of shape lately. But that’s not why we are here. Luckily though, Massa is in their best form! We loved their Walls album from 2018 and we feared we had lost track of all they did till now, but we then learned they’ve been kind of dormant and it wasn’t until a new member arrived, that the band took charge of their future, their inspiration and exploded into the seven-track album that is Psyche. An instrumental post sludge adventure that goes into doom territory as well stoner and psych. They embrace you slowly with their sonically rich landscape, but by the time you reach middle ground with Nyx you are entirely and completely captivated. After which Avondland with its steady rippling feels like the perfect interlude before that grand cathedral like Soma track starts. The speech will forever throw me for a loop and there is a part of me that is unsure if the track would not have been better without it. But it does fit, the way it sits there in the mix of the early part of the song as well as near the end when they are building towards that grand finale, that in fact turns out to be that fade out seduction. Leading up to yet another grandiose song, the final, title-track Psyche. Wonderful bass work and extremely wide drums kick off this track, before kicking it into second gear with almost tribal like percussion, and a guitar that dances around itself, becomes lighter than air and almost takes to the sky when the track reached that middle section. Finding fulfillment, escape even as the track continues, Psyche feels like the perfect finale to a musical odyssey filled with wonder…
(Written by JK)
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