Review: Hexvessel – Nocturne
Hexvessel go back to their black metal roots, letting Nocturne arrives like mist at dusk: seductive, unsettled, but ultimately wanting. Hexvessel stretch their boundaries, weaving folk, blackened elements (think of early Ulver), and minimal ambiance into long passages of nature-touched gloom.
The opening piece, with its piano and spectral synthesis, establishes a mood of shadowed ritual. As the album progresses, layers of tremolo picking, guest vocals, and orchestral touches emerge, sometimes in powerful washes, other times in murmur. “Sapphire Zephyrs” and “Unworld” reach toward grandeur, making them real gems of the album. The acoustic and folk strands breathe in some tracks, offering welcome respite, and they are among the most affecting moments.
Yet for all its reach, “Nocturne” often retreats into repetition. A couple of tracks linger in the same atmospheric zone without sufficient contrast. “Inward Landscapes” stretches longer than its ideas warrant. There are stretches where the weight of texture overshadows momentum. The vocals, too, shift between clean, spoken, and harsh styles; the transitions are not always seamless, sometimes drawing attention away from immersion.
The production accentuates mood but also reveals limitations. The mix allows ambient synths and strings to float, but the harsh elements occasionally feel distant. When the guitars crash, they often lack the visceral punch that might offset the dreamlike passages. Drum work is solid but seldom surprising. The instrumental interplay is generally tasteful, though patches of layering feel more decorative than integral.
Lyrical and thematic content leans into nocturnal liminality: the space between waking and sleep, life and death, nature’s vastness and human fragility. These themes are engaging, evocative. The guest appearances are diversifying the sound, but they also underscore how dependent the album is on variation by addition rather than internal variation.
“Nocturne” succeeds most at atmosphere. It captures winter forests, moonlit nights, the unease of solitude. In small moments it stuns: ambient piano, a dirty riff halting into silence, a voice rising like mist. These moments justify the patience. But taken as a whole, the album can weigh like a long night that does not shift, that remains more contemplative than cathartic.
As evolution from Hexvessel’s prior offerings, “Nocturne” is admirable. It leans further into dark textures and blackened edges than before, showing both courage and risk. Fans of atmospheric transitions will find much to appreciate; for others used to sharper contrast or more immediate impact, it may feel protracted. It is an evocative work with beautiful textures, thematic depth, and moments of real power. But it falters in consistency and pacing, often settling into its own atmosphere without breaking through.
