{"title":"Hexvessel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA psychedelic forest folk rock band from Finland, Hexvessel was founded by Mat McNerney in 2009. The current lineup includes Mat McNerney on vocals and guitar, Kimmo Helén on piano, keys, viola, violin, trumpet, and backing vocals, Jukka Rämänen on drums, percussion, and bass guitar, and Ville Hakonen on bass. Former members have included Jesse Heikkinen on lead guitar and backing vocals, Vesa Ajomo on guitars, Jussi Saarivuori on organs and samples, Simo Kuosmanen on lead guitar,\nNiini Rossi on bass guitar,\nTuuli Jartti on violin and backing vocals,\nJaakko Niemeläon keys,\nDirk Campbell as a session member playing flutes and duduk,\nDaniel Pioro as a session member playing violin,\nMarja Konttinen providing vocals and percussion,\nAndrew McIvor playing acoustic guitars,\nand Antti Haapapuro creating sound effects and field recordings as the master of ceremonies.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"kindred","title":"Kindred","description":"\u003cp\u003eFinland’s Hexvessel return to Svart Records with new album \u003ci\u003eKindred\u003c\/i\u003e, with cover artwork by renowned artists Thomas Hooper and Richey Beckett unveiled. Taking a darker and more esoteric path, Kindred sees Hexvessel re-forge their eclectic melting cauldron or vessel of sound into a potent hex of spell-binding songcraft. Blues-laden psych-rock and progressive structures harken back to King Crimson, giving way to dark earthen balladry reminiscent of early Nick Cave and the doom-laden atmospheres of Dead Can Dance. The band returned to their original studio in Tampere, Finland, where they recorded their cult classic No Holier Temple, which fused Hexvessel’s folk roots with an occult undercurrent, with the new album mastered by John Davis (The Killers \/ Gorillaz \/ Led Zeppelin \/ Lana Del Rey) in the UK. Through Kindred’s 10 song rites of passage, Hexvessel cover Coils Fire Of The Mind live from a mental institution and delve into the Druidic sacrificial swamps with songs like Bog Bodies, which conjures the deep Lynchian night with muted trumpet and foggy rhodes piano. Adorned by cover artwork by artists Thomas Hooper (who has worked for Neurosis, Converge and Doomriders) and Richey Beckett (who has created work for Metallica, Foo Fighters, Robert Plant), Kindred is an album which calls you on a journey, both intimate and richly enlightening. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50441280684363,"sku":"1092181","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fa6b8313-9155-4ea0-9ef4-4c3eacfd1b0f_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726976327"},{"product_id":"no-holier-temple","title":"No Holier Temple","description":"\u003cp\u003eNo Holier Temple, gets a luxury 10-year anniversary reissue via Svart Records! No Holier Temple was Psychedelic Forest Folk band Hexvessel’s second full-length album, released to critical acclaim, cult status and some of their biggest sales figures to date. The Finnish “mushroom-devouring pixies” follow up to 2011’s critically acclaimed debut album, Dawnbearer, was described by Roadburn Festival as “a passionate, urgent and gorgeously strange musical spell.” Hexvessel’s break-through album No Holier Temple reached new heights for the band with two Emma Gala (Finnish Grammy Awards) nominations. No Holier Tample also won two Femma awards, which is the Alternative Finnish Grammy Awards. Hexvessel played the prestigious Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands for the first time that year in the church venue of Het Patronaat. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe festival sold out in 7 minutes. No Holier Temple also landed in the Main Finnish Charts at #20 and in Alternative charts at #7. No Holier Temple fuses the acoustic 70s folk vibe of its predecessor into a more psychedelic, electric, doom-folk sound with Manzarek-like keys, screeching rhythmic Velvet Underground violins, Miles Davis trumpets and hypnotic freakouts. Weaving the uncanny songs together are the narrative vocals of Mat McNerney, who on this album has matured into the bastard child of Burke Shelley, young Jon Anderson and Paul Simon. Inspired by the progressive, spaced-out haze of bands like Amon Düül II, Van Der Graaf Generator and Ultimate Spinach, whose song “Your Head Is Reeling” they cover with religious abandon. Their sound now expands outward from their eerie, signature, ritual-esque intros into a genre-twisting cauldron of otherworldly rock and the late-night, dreamy spoken-word of artists such as Jim Morrison (An American Prayer) and Ken Nordine.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart","offers":[{"title":"Yellow | LP | x2","offer_id":50476880396619,"sku":"1167511","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50476878659915,"sku":"1167512","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/7c9d3bd6-76cb-4cfa-b495-b8386aaf8985_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727464748"},{"product_id":"dawnbearer","title":"Dawnbearer","description":"\u003cp\u003e10 year anniversary of Hexvessel’s debut album Dawnbearer is celebrated with a set of reissues. “\u003ci\u003eDawnbeare\u003c\/i\u003er is a very important album for us, being our first album but also the first original album release for Svart Records. It’s also a very special record for our fans, and one that’s particularly close to my heart, in a world of its own when compared to the other records we have made. Considering that it’s been out of print now for some time, I’m delighted to be able to oversee a reissue of this album, together with original demos and out-takes, and liner notes showing the making of this album which carries the initial DNA of Hexvessel’s musical and spiritual journey”, says band leader Mat McNerney, “We haven’t touched a thing on the original layout, but added some bonus material for the limited edition, should you wish to own a luxury edition of this, our now classic debut.” Hexvessel band was founded by English singer\/songwriter Mat McNerney (Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures, Carpenter Brut etc) after he moved to Finland in 2009. Their style of music has been referred to as “forest folk” or as Noisey\/Vice puts it: “Weaving English folk, lilting Americana, and mushroom-induced psychedelia”. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP | x2","offer_id":50490343686475,"sku":"1118049","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50490344440139,"sku":"1118046","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fccb6f65-931b-4ca5-8329-7a042b39211d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727659155"},{"product_id":"polar-veil","title":"Polar Veil","description":"\u003cp\u003eFinland's Hexvessel return with their sixth album, Polar Veil, a cold, metallic hymn to the Sub Arctic North. Haunted by primal forest spirits, Mat \"Kvohst\" McNerney summons the ghosts of his past in a jaw-dropping, unheard-of rebirth of style and sound. At once unmistakably Hexvessel, Polar Veil is also steeped in the nocturnal atmosphere of McNerney's past, churned in the cauldron of Black Metal, Ritual Folk Psychedelia and Doom Rock, and echoing with shivering Gothic undertones.  From their inception in 2009, Hexvessel, created by Mat McNerney as what he described to Decibel Magazine as \"a free spiritual journey and a musical odyssey with no boundaries\", have captivated audiences and listeners with their evolution.   Holed up in a home-made studio in his log cabin during the winter of 2022, McNerney drew on all the fundamental elements of his music career as a shamanic shapeshifter, with only the isolation of nature's solitude as inspiration. Painting an aura with Polar Veil which resonates with solitary reflection and themes of personal spiritual transcendence, Hexvessel's new album is a bold statement from an artist who continues to reinvent and explore nature mysticism through music.   \"Nature represents freedom, darkness and the call of the wild. Black Metal has always been at the borders of my sound and playing, at the heart of everything I do. Tradition, nature, ritual, mythology, mysticism and philosophy, along with clashing and jarring chords have always been synonymous with Hexvessel. It was natural with Polar Veil, finally now as we reach the zenith of the journey, that these influences surface to the human ear, and with the freezing cold guitar sound that the climate here demands.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e A track such as Crepuscular Creatures, with unhinged, discordant guitar chords, as bassist Ville Hakonen's hand snakes up and down the frets, is at the more avant-garde end of the album. Long term drummer Jukka R?m?nen thundering the toms like never before, as McNerney croons Scott Walker-esque lyrics, somewhere between Edith S?dergran and Ted Hughes.   Whereas Listen To The River with its ominous M.R James\/Folk Horror lyrics of perilous environmental warning, featuring Ben Chisholm main collaborator and multi-instrumentalist with Chelsea Wolfe on lush, haunting keys and strings, could have appeared on Hexvessel's sophomore album No Holier Temple, albeit with a sound of that era, progressing out of Folk.   Polar Veil features Nameless Void from Negative Plane, performing the guitar solo on the song Ring and on Older Than The Gods, Okoi from B?lzer provides guest vocals. At first an unlikely partnership but one that makes total sense as the album deepens, and threads can be drawn that reveal the place Polar Veil is coming from.   On the process of recording \"Polar Veil\", McNerney explains: \"I built a studio at home in the log hut on our field, surrounded by large trees, called Pine Hill, to escape from everything and everyone. Polar Veil is what a spiritu\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart Records","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50521834455371,"sku":"2028490","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Clear LP","offer_id":50521834651979,"sku":"2028492","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50521834291531,"sku":"2028487","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/HEXVESSEL-PolarVeil_a4496c02-8b5f-43a0-b25a-814b95663b19_5000x_6914d42d_thu.jpg?v=1727995819"},{"product_id":"polar-veil-5","title":"Polar Veil","description":"\u003cp\u003eFinland’s Hexvessel return with their sixth album, Polar Veil, a cold, metallic hymn to the Sub Arctic North. Haunted by primal forest spirits, Mat “Kvohst” McNerney summons the ghosts of his past in a jaw-dropping, unheard-of rebirth of style and sound. At once unmistakably Hexvessel, Polar Veil is also steeped in the nocturnal atmosphere of McNerney’s past, churned in the cauldron of Black Metal, Ritual Folk Psychedelia and Doom Rock, and echoing with shivering Gothic undertones. From their inception in 2009, Hexvessel, created by Mat McNerney as what he described to Decibel Magazine as “a free spiritual journey and a musical odyssey with no boundaries”, have captivated audiences and listeners with their evolution. Holed up in a home-made studio in his log cabin during the winter of 2022, McNerney drew on all the fundamental elements of his music career as a shamanic shapeshifter, with only the isolation of nature’s solitude as inspiration. Painting an aura with Polar Veil which resonates with solitary reflection and themes of personal spiritual transcendence, Hexvessel’s new album is a bold statement from an artist who continues to reinvent and explore nature mysticism through music. “Nature represents freedom, darkness and the call of the wild. Black Metal has always been at the borders of my sound and playing, at the heart of everything I do. Tradition, nature, ritual, mythology, mysticism and philosophy, along with clashing and jarring chords have always been synonymous with Hexvessel. It was natural with Polar Veil, finally now as we reach the zenith of the journey, that these influences surface to the human ear, and with the freezing cold guitar sound that the climate here demands.” A track such as Crepuscular Creatures, with unhinged, discordant guitar chords, as bassist Ville Hakonen’s hand snakes up and down the frets, is at the more avant-garde end of the album. Long term drummer Jukka Rämänen thundering the toms like never before, as McNerney croons Scott Walker-esque lyrics, somewhere between Edith Södergran and Ted Hughes. Whereas Listen To The River with its ominous M.R James\/Folk Horror lyrics of perilous environmental warning, featuring Ben Chisholm main collaborator and multi- instrumentalist with Chelsea Wolfe on lush, haunting keys and strings, could have appeared on Hexvessel’s sophomore album No Holier Temple, albeit with a sound of that era, progressing out of Folk. Polar Veil features Nameless Void from Negative Plane, performing the guitar solo on the song Ring and on Older Than The Gods, Okoi from Bølzer provides guest vocals. At first an unlikely partnership but one that makes total sense as the album deepens, and threads can be drawn that reveal the place Polar Veil is coming from. On the process of recording “Polar Veil”, McNerney explains: “I built a studio at home in the log hut on our field, surrounded by large trees, called Pine Hill, to escape from everything and everyone. Polar Veil is what a spiritual home sounds like.” When the components of the medicine are familiar but brewed in a completely novel concoction, the resulting side effects can be deliriously intoxicating.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50545830560075,"sku":"2188758","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_a686600a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728362185"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_e7a83222_thumbnail_4096_6f582745-e094-4d31-a77b-9eb5639c1b01.jpg?v=1726976310","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/hexvessel.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}