Photograph of band at Ursa Observatory, Helsinki courtesy of Maija Lahtinen

As we previously reported, ace Finnish forest folk group Hexvessel recently released a new EP, Iron Marsh, via Svart Records, and we're excited to be able to host the video for 13-minute opener 'Masks Of The Universe' - have a watch below:

The band call it a "paean to NASA", and have fittingly also given us a picture of them at NASA's Houston Mission Control - see below. We'd try and convey some of its bound-for-the-heart-of-the-sun, ritual-prog glory to you in our own words, but will instead leave it to the band's frontman Mathew McNerney to do the honours.

Says he: "[Carl] Sagan said: 'Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognise our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual." Space is the true occult, beyond knowledge or experience. Space scientists and explorers are the modern day wizards and shamans, peering into the heavens and hells of other worlds to give us a glimpse through the fabric of time and dimensions.

"This video is our paean to NASA and more importantly to the pioneering spirit of mankind. To space travellers, scientists and dreamers of the heavens. We only need to contemplate the natural world here on Earth to gain some recognition of the immensity of the universe. It is only through knowledge and love of the wilderness can we begin to understand our place and the value of life in this vast universe. We are born from the death of an exploding star. Our Iron Marsh EP stands for the frontier, the gateway into the universe. Our womb, our entrance, our mother, our everything. As [John] Muir [said: 'The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.'"

Get hold of the EP over at Svart's label here.