
SVART
RECORDS announces September 7th as the release date for HEXVESSEL's No Holier
Temple. Following the critically acclaimed Dawnbearer debut (also released by
SVART) - which the Roadburn Festival dubbed as "a passionate, urgent and
gorgeously strange musical spell" - HEXVESSEL's No Holier Temple sees the
Finnish psychedelic forest-folk band return with their highly anticipated second
full-length album!
HEXVESSEL's 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 - and
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.
The front cover (below and attached) is by the artist Bastian Kalous and
represents the reverence to the native forest and nature that HEXVESSEL wish to
raise awareness and preservation of. The themes of the album "are inspired by
the work of great men like Scottish-American naturalist and preservationist John
Muir and more recent radical environmental advocates Dave Foreman and Howie
Wolke," discussing the definition of what makes something holy and sacred.
Frontman and founder Mat McNerney says of the album: “The songs were written
specifically to be channeled by a group. This is the sound of a cult, all
focused on summoning the same magic, joined in prayer, haunted by the same
demons. We actively pushed for a new way to evolve our sound. I purposely strove
to make this album a calculated move-on from Dawnbearer. This isn't about using
symbols of the occult. This is about a way of living that returns the old gods
to their rightful place. We're a family that worships nature through word and
sound. We hope you will join us."

1. Heaven and Earth Magic 1.31
2. Woods to Conjure 4.05
3. Wilderness Is 1.31
4. A Letter in Birch Bark
4.32
5. His Portal Tomb 10.10
6. Elegy to Goyahkla 1.25
7. Are You Coniferous 2.37
8. Sacred Marriage 7.55
9. Dues to the Dolmen 4.28
10. Unseen Sun 13.22
11. Your Head is Reeling 4.25
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