The other day I stumbled upon "Exhaling Life" from a band called HEXED that features Thomas Vikström from THERION.  Being a huge THERION fan, I naturally pressed play and I wasn't disappointed. But for now, let's back up a little. HEXED is an up and coming female fronted metal band from Sweden. Yes, we all know by now that Sweden produces great metal. The band was formed in late winter of 2015 by vocalist Tina and lead-guitar/vocalist Stellan in Uppsala Sweden. They picked up their music after years away from the metal scene, with the intention to start a new band with it's very own sound and with high-quality female vocals as the main components. Songs were born and produced, and the concept grew further. Daniel and Teddy joined at bass and drums and that's the story of HEXED.

"Exhaling life" has a fast rhythm to it and an overall melodic sound. Usually I am quite skeptical when reviewing female fronted metal bands, especially new ones, because I don't really know what to expect in terms of the voice. I can either get something extremely well performed, either a lame attempt to copy Tarja on symphonic or Angela Gossow on growl. To my joy, Tina has an AMAZING clean voice and the interpretation is well delivered. Thomas Vikström doesn't bring too much to the band, his contribution is quite modest, and I would have like to hear him more. Not to recreate another THERION here, but I think Snowy's voice would have been a nice touch as well. Just my humble opinion...

"Forsaken" starts with a scream, literally, it gave me goosebumps. The song has plenty of atmosphere, polished riffs and flawless melodic vocals. "Lightyears" remains heavy, the chord progressions aren't predictable and it's quite catchy. The two voices have a good contrast between them making it an enjoyable listening. The bottom line is that HEXED is a gem that I am proud to have stumbled upon. I truly enjoyed their EP, can't say it's something that I have never heard before, but it has its own uniqueness and charm. If you like bands such as LACUNA COIL, SOILWORK, EPICA, DELAIN, you'll probably get HEXED!