Posted in Whathaveyou on January 2nd, 2026 by JJ Koczan
So imagine it’s next August. Summer festival season in Europe is winding down, but bands are still out and there’s still plenty of action to be had. You find yourself getting off an airplane in Sweden. Maybe you fly into Malmö direct, or maybe it’s Stockholm first, then four and a half hours by train. However you manage, you get to Malmö ahead of the start of Doomopolis, which for its first night thus far features Hexjakt, Electric Hydra, Kal-El, Slomatics and High on Fire. Rock and roll is had, minds are blown, and for a small time, all is right in the world.
The next morning you wake up for the train (back?) to Stockholm, where night two of Doomopolis 2026 — Stockholm is so cool it doesn’t even need to be the whole word anymore: Sthlm — will take place. Electric Hydra are swapped out for Caboose and Doomherre, while Kal-El, High on Fire, Slomatics and Hexjakt carry over as everybody heads north and east at the same time, you and the bands (plus whoever’s still TBA). It’s your last night in town — your only night in town — so you blow it out and leave worrying about sitting on the place for when you actually are. Again, the music starts and everything is well. High on Fire, inevitably, are the loudest thing of the night. I’m pretty sure that’s in their contract.
Maybe you pay for it a bit on the morning of Aug. 16 as you drag yourself out of whatever hole you slept in, pack your bags and head somewhere to go back wherever you came from either by train, plane, automobile or, let’s assume, personal watercraft (you rode a jetski to Stockholm in that scenario; you’re a legendary badass), and all around you, life looks a little different as people get up to their normal commute. No one has any idea of the experience you just had. You feel really, really good about that. The ownership of a secret. It’s yours now, that memory.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 29th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
That’s a heavy night in June at the 2026 Västerås Doomfest, put on at least in part by members of hometown pummellers 10,000 Years and highlight the brasher side of Sweden’s heavy underground. If you’re gonna do that, you probably want Firebreather on the bill. Oh, and Spelljammer. Oh, and, yeah, 10,000 Years too. I could keep doing this if you want. Never mind.
You may have noticed Hästspark also played the Norwegian Tundra and Lightning festival, and they also played Truckfighters Fuzz Fest in 2023. Their 2025 video for “Sounds of Her Nature” reveals that the recording was helmed by Johan Rockner (Dozer) and that Robert Lamu (Skraeckoedlan) mixed. No wonder the song sounds so good. Maybe more to come in the New Year?
From socials:
VÄSTERÅS DOOMFEST 2026
Death Valley Productions presents in partnership with Merchprint and O’Learys Västerås:
FIREBREATHER
Sweden’s number one riff gods. Created from Matt Pike’s ribs, they thunder over Sweden, Europe and the world and put everything under ruins. Now it’s finally time to Västerås to get a taste of the car and we are very happy to announce Firebreather as the headliner for Västerås Doomfest 2026!
SPELLJAMMER
Lead-heavy and desert dusty riffdoom custom tailored for cosmic travel
HÄSTSPARK
Modern sounding stoner rock that delivers up to its name, straight in solar plexus
10,000 YEARS
Västerås own stonermetal heroes
HEXJAKT
Classic stonerdoom in updated blackfair gun
KLASTOS
Dirty chopper sledge with the fists in the highest chop
DARK OCEAN CIRCLE
Stoner-turned fuzz rock that always offers to dance
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 5th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Fucking hell, I hope I get to go to Desertfest Oslo. Conan and Dopelord and 16 on top of the likes of Dozer, King Buffalo and Pelican. Even down to Astralplane — their new record is badass, I have it pending for a review — and White Tundra (please don’t put them in the tiny room!), there’s no real letup. Howling Giant, Bottenhavet, Moonstone, Daevar, High Desert Queen. It’s just killer.
I write about a lot of festivals. Feels like especially in the last couple weeks, the Spring season in Europe has really taken shape. Desertfest Oslo 2026 has an essential role in that, as it feeds into the subsequent Desertfest Berlin and Desertfest London, as well as other festivals happening throughout May and into June. And that’s always cool, and I’ll look forward to those tour announcements as well, but my principal insight here is what I said in the first sentence. I was lucky enough to get to Oslo for Desertfest this year, and I very, very much want to go again in ’26.
The now-complete lineup, of course, is a significant part of why. From socials:
DESERTFEST OSLO 2026 – FINAL LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT
Oh hey, here we are already!
Things have been cooking intensely over the last couple of weeks, and we are finally ready to announce the complete lineup for Desertfest Oslo.
No matter how grey, moist and rainy it feels these days, the sun will soon be turning, and its beams set on Oslo, to light this city of Satan completely on fire May 8th and 9th, 2026.
The lineup is hotter than hell, and we hope it will add some sparkle to your holiday preparations.
Consider it a RIFFmas gift 🔥
A glimpse of light and fuzz. A state of mind to look forward to. Beyond the X-mas buzz. From all of us, to all of you.
Lots of love from your Desertfest Oslo crew!
Please welcome:
🏜️ UK´s doom lords CONAN.
🏜️ Norwegian stoner rock legends THULSA DOOM.
🏜️ Polish fuzz maestros DOPELORD.
🏜️ American sludge beast -16-,
🏜️ Italian stallions MR.BISON.
🏜️ Norwegian cosmonauts ASTRALPLANE.
🏜️ The new HEAVY from Sweden HEXJAKT
🏜️ Rising Italian psych masters GIOBIA.
🏜️ Local Norwegian powerhouses WHITE TUNDRA and BIG RIP.
Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 27th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Newcomer Swedish crushers Hexjakt will release their debut album, Blessing of the Damned, on Dec. 1 through Majestic Mountain and Burning Skull Records. It’s pointedly doomly fare for the latter, which is more in line with traditional metal, but heavy enough to be a 62-minute onslaught of all-in atmospheric sludge riffing; a lumbering and persistent heft of tone that pervades in the roll of opener “10,000 Crows” and the bassy, shouted-into-the-void early going of “Black Circle,” which follows, and is manifest throughout in various forms, whether it’s the all-out oppressive shove in the first half of “Void Throne” or the sparser landscaping of the later going in that same song.
Thirteen-minute closer “Cathedrals” might be named in honor of the English doom outfit who would seem to have inspired its central riff, while “The Act of Dying,” which follows “Wyrd” and is the shortest original selection on the 2LP at 5:27, brings High on Fire-esque gallop to the proceedings, departing from the norm established across the album to that point in terms of tempo, answering the stoner swing under the echoing shouts of “Void Throne” as well as the breakdown riff in the penultimate “Monolith,” as Blessing of the Damned reveals itself as something of a heavy underground melting pot while remaining consistent in terms of craft and willing to take the time to dig into the nine-minute “Black Circle” or bring a sense of individualism to the daring cover included, a take on Dio‘s “Don’t Talk to Strangers.”
Now, I don’t believe in sacred ground in terms of rock and roll. Songs are meant to be heard, played, lived with and lived in. But even a lesser track from Holy Diver — by which I mean “Don’t Talk to Strangers” isn’t “Rainbow in the Dark” or “Holy Diver” — is a risky one to take on, since invariably some portion of the listenership will have a strong association/expectation of what’s to come, and Hexjakt are very much not Dio stylistically. This turns out to make them all the more able to pull it off, since they’re not bending their aesthetic to suit the material, but reinterpreting the material through their own creative lens.
Following the pummel of “The Act of Dying,” which caps with a persistent, brutalist succession of crashes and stomping, “Don’t Talk to Strangers” is hardly recognizable if you have the original in mind, with a spoken verse and foreboding fuzz opening to a consuming sprawl of riff, more weighted than what will soon follow amid the airier leads of “Monolith,” but well in line with the oldschool-aware slog that “Cathedrals” willfully becomes in its first half, before breaking to minimalist strum to build back up to Blessing of the Damned‘s last march, vocals shouting upward from deep in the mix to push the crescendo over.
If you find yourself struck by the cohesion and scope with which Hexjakt, who’ve been a band all of a year and had a self-titled EP out before having their first album picked up for release by two labels, execute their debut full-length, and maybe you’re asking yourself “who the hell are these guys?,” guitarist/vocalist Hampus Henningsson was in Signo Rojo early on in their run, bassist/vocalist Toni Åkerman was in Demon Seizure and has the solo-project Cibola, while Dan Nordinhasn’t been in 35 bands already, which for a good drummer is an accomplishment in itself.
Rather than look to pedigree for answers, then, Blessing of the Damned‘s own declarations about who Hexjakt are turn out to be more revealing in terms of tonal character, the bourgeoning of divergent intent in songwriting, and generally being the work of a band who pretty clearly had an idea of what they wanted to be upon getting together, even if that idea was wrought out as being very, very heavy. Hexjakt are that, to be sure, but Blessing of the Damned plays out with more personality of its own the more you hear it, and by the time its substantial course is over, it’s not a surprise to look around and find yourself in the sometimes-severe world the songs have made.
It is full of purpose in sound and construction, and if Hexjakt are committed to forward creative growth — something one can’t really know until it shows up in their sound on future outings — look the frick out, because few starting points feel as willfully self-directed as Blessings of the Damned, and so few resonate with as much potential.
PR wire info follows the lyric video
Hexjakt, “The Act of Dying” lyric video premiere
Hexjakt on “The Act of Dying”:
“The Act of Dying” is a dark, heavy, and unrelenting track exploring themes of mortality and transcendence. It’s also the final glimpse of the upcoming album “Blessing of the Damned,” out December 1st.
Hexjakt is a heavy, brooding doom metal band from Västmanland, Sweden. Formed in 2024, the band forges crushing riffs, haunting soundscapes, and introspective lyrics into a sound rooted in the spirit of classic doom, yet unmistakably their own.
Their music is slow, monolithic, and emotionally charged, delving into themes of the occult, human frailty, and the vast unknown. Released earlier this year, Hexjakt’s debut EP drew glowing praise from both listeners and critics, celebrated for its depth, intensity, and suffocating atmosphere.
On stage, the band delivers performances as punishing as they are immersive, dragging audiences into a realm of gloom, weight, and revelation.
With an unyielding focus on mood, texture, and emotional resonance, Hexjakt invites listeners on a journey through despair, mystery, and the shadows beyond.
Now the band returns with their first full-length album, Blessing of the Damned, set to be released on December 1, 2025 via Majestic Mountain Records in collaboration with Burning Skull Records.
A collection of the darkest and most conceptually charged songs they’ve written to date, Blessing of the Damned explores the tension between damnation and redemption, light and darkness. The music unfolds in a soundscape of crushing, slow-paced riffs, murky atmospheres, and lyrics evoking ritual ecstasy, defiance, and resignation.
Blessing of the Damned is no salvation. It is a curse you choose to carry.
Tracklisting: 1. 10,000 Crows 2. Black Circle 3. Void Throne 4. Wyrd 5. The Act of Dying 6. Don’t Talk to Strangers 7. Monolith 8. Cathedrals
Line-Up: Hampus Henningsson – Guitar/Vocals Toni Åkerman – Bass/Vocals Dan Nordin – Drums
