Review: Hexvessel – Nocturne

June 12, 2025

604

Frozen Beastmilk

Mat McNerney has had an adventurous career, whether it’s his ventures into post-punk & deathrock with Beastmilk and Grave Pleasures, or his more extreme ventures into black metal with code, Dødheimsgard and The Deathtrip. One of his more varied and interesting projects comes in the shape of Hexvessel. What started out as more psychedelic folk rock has now evolved into atmospheric black metal in the classic Ulver sense, with some doom vibes inserted into their music as well. This evolution of the project started with 2023’s Polar Veil which ended up being a very interesting sound that showed that it has legs and ended up being a very good album. Two years on from this, Hexvessel now has their 7th album with Nocturne.

The album starts with a piano-centered opening that carries into the beginning of “Sapphire Zephyrs.” From here on, you’ll notice instrumentally it goes into a more atmospheric black metal vibe, especially in the guitars that reminds you of early Ulver as well as a bit of Paysage D’Hiver. Impressively vocal-wise, Mat mixes things up with some very good screams as well as an interesting clean vocal style that reminds me a bit of Blood on Ice-era Bathory. Also, the addition of guest vocals from Saara Nevalainen adds a choral background to the music that works somewhat well, a welcome addition on this album.

The next track, “Inwards Landscapes,” starts off with a nice lead guitar intro and the blend of harsh black metal instrumentals and Mat’s vocals here is very interesting. While it would feel like an obvious mismatch, it actually works for what Hexvessel are doing here. The acoustic passage on this is very nice in addition and finishes off in style thanks to Saara. Another interesting turn comes in “A Dark & Graceful Wilderness” that mixes things up a bit more with the use of spoken word and singing from Mat. This track also shows off the best use of synths which I really enjoyed due to their icy-feeling atmosphere.

A heavier riff focus comes next with “Spirit Masked Wolf,” showing the range that Mat has between the clean vocal style that you’ve heard used in many projects as well as the harsh screams. The guitars here are great and Saara’s involvement near the end is brilliant. A doomier feeling comes here with “Nights Tender Reckoning;” I also like that the synths take the stage here and the section of this track with the dual lead guitars sounds really good and fresh. Following a nice snowy weather intro sound, “Mother Destroyer” really thrives on the blastbeats in this song.

A charming, mellow acoustic passage in the form of “Concealed Descent” follows, which is a good calm before the storm of the final two tracks. The next track, “Unworld” shows more of a doomier side of the band especially with the riffs; it also features vocals from Vicotnik of Dødheimsgard. Closing off Nocturne comes “Phoebus” which does a lot of similar things to the previous tracks as well as displaying some psychedelic vibes. The backing screams from Juho Vanhanen of Oranssi Pazuzu is a nice small addition to the track that ends the album well.

This was surely another very interesting Hexvessel album that ventured a tad further into the more atmospheric black metal side, while still having some of the psychedelic/folky aspects from previous releases before Polar Veil. Nocturne is like a mixture of early Ulver & Paysage D’Hiver from an instrumental perspective, blended with Bathory’s Blood on Ice and Hammerheart. I enjoyed the use of synths and the involvement of Saara on this release as well. If I have one issue with this album, it’s that it’s a little too long compared to Polar Veil, which I felt was more fitting in terms of length. Besides that, this is another very good deep dive into the new direction that Hexvessel are currently heading in.