HEXJAKT
Blessing Of The Damned
MAJESTIC MOUNTAIN
Sweden’s new lords of solemnity give themselves room to wallow
Despite existing for little more than a year, this Swedish power trio have channelled their crestfallen souls into one EP and this album. That’s not an easy feat when song lengths run between five and 13 minutes. The atmosphere throughout Blessing Of The Damned is musty and murderous. Protracted wailing walls of lumbering, sustained power chords and loose, palm-muted swagger are offered up in the utterly unhummable Cathedrals and Wyrd, while Monolith acts as their bounciest Black Sabbath moment. The manner in which they transform Dio’s Don’t Talk To Strangers into an elongated, molasses-paced slab is indicative of Hexjakt’s power to cast their own unique pallor onto an already ashen canvas. ■■■■■■■■■■