Hexvessel

Booking Agent : Ricky Biondetti, Greg Feller

Hexvessel is based in Tampere, Finland. The band was founded by English singer/songwriter Mat McNerney when 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, Hexvessel are The Doors misplaced and found wandering the vast forests of Finland.”
Their debut album ‘Dawnbearer’ was released worldwide in 2011 on Svart Records from Finland and received attention from many mainstream music websites such as Stereogum in the US and a mention in the British daily newspaper The Guardian about the rise of occult rock.

2012 saw Hexvessel’s break-through album ‘No Holier Temple’ reach new heights with two Emma Gala (Finnish Grammy Awards) nominations. One nomination for the “Critics Choice” award and the other for “Best Album Cover Art of The Year.” The band also won two Femma awards, which is the Alternative Finnish Grammy Awards. One award was for being “Psychedelic” and the other award was the “Music Finland” award. The band played the prestigious Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands for the first time in the church venue of Het Patronaat. The festival sold out in 7 minutes. ‘No Holier Temple’ landed in the Finnish Charts at #20 and in Alternative charts #7. The album was featured on many end-of-year lists from the established press such as the much respected mainstream music site The Quietus from the UK.
The following year in 2013 the band released their EP “Iron Marsh” and were nominated for the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in the UK for “Best Underground Act.” That same year the band played highly esteemed festivals such as Ilosaari Festival in Finland, Desertfest in the UK and toured Europe including Germany, Poland, Denmark and Sweden, playing Provinssi Festival in Finland and returning to Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands.
2014 saw the band tour Europe with French band Alcest playing such well known venues as the Islington Assembly Hall in London, UK and Divan Du Monde in Paris.
In 2015 Hexvessel signed to major International label Sony Music owned Century Media Records from Germany for their 3rd album. The band released their first 7” single for their new major label deal, “Earth Over Us” which sold out, and garnered attention from media sites such as Metal Hammer UK.
The 3rd Hexvessel album, ‘When We Are Death’ was released in 2016 and their first single was played on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. The biggest newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and Prog Magazine in the UK named it as one of the best Prog albums of the year. The album charted at #34 in Finland and the song “Transparent Eyeball” was nominated for a Prog Award in the “Anthem” category.
The band conducted a headline tour of Europe and played at such prestigious venues as the 100 Club in London UK and return to Provinssi Festival in Finland, and the main stage at the 013 venue of Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands, which holds a capacity of 3000 people.
In 2017 the band played one of Germany’s oldest and most well-known rock music festivals, Berg Herzburg, alongside artists such as Patti Smith and Kansas. The band also performed a sold-out show at G-Livelab in Helsinki Finland and opened for the Swedish band Opeth at the world famous Alvar Aalto designed main auditorium of Finlandia-Talo.
Hexvessel went to Woburn in UK during 2018 to record their 4th album ‘All Tree’ at Orgone Studios. This was the first time that the band had recorded outside of Finland. The band played a live show as part of a festival in the French Pyrenees, in a Unesco World Heritage site. Marja Konttinen from the band appeared on Finnish national radio station YLE (Finland’s version of the BBC). The first single for the album, “Closing Circles” was released in December and received accolades from mainstream music press such as Revolver, who listed the song among “6 new songs you need to hear now.”
‘All Tree’ was released in 2019 and the band played the album in its entirety at the Cathedral in Tampere to over 700 people, as featured on the main tourist website for their home city Tampere, Visit Tampere. The band toured Europe once again playing St John’s church on Bethnal Green in London and returning to play the main stage at Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands. Finland’s biggest music magazine, Soundi gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying that “Hexvessel manages to innovate and reach enough new dimensions, but still remain true to its roots without losing itself.” The band gained mentions in mainstream music press such as Kerrang in the UK and Brooklyn Vegan in the US who said of the band, “They’re way too accessible to be as niche as they are, but who knows, maybe All Tree will finally be the breakthrough they’ve always deserved.”

Hexvessel posted on their Instagram page that in 2019 they had 1 million listeners in 79 countries, with 26,202 listeners per month on their Spotify account. The band was nominated in the 2019 Prog Awards for the “International Band/Artist of The Year” award.

Hexvessel released their fifth album Kindred in 2020, with US site Metal Injection giving it 9/10 and saying that “it sets a new benchmark not only for Hexvessel, but for present-day explorations of the style as a whole”.
In April 2023 Hexvessel announced a new 7” single, “Older Than The Gods” from their forthcoming sixth album, Polar Veil, which is due to be released on September the 22nd 2023.
As of 2023 the band has +25,000 listens per month on Spotify and over 20,000 followers.

 
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