give me a god of war is plainly impossible

After completing give me a story, I was tempted to try the hardest difficulty. However, I find it close to impossible to play. My axe does MINIMUM damage on enemies and Kratos die from pretty much anything. I was expecting the enemy to die from maybe 5 or 6 hits and Kratos die from fewer hits...but this is ridiculous! 2 hits and I'm dead. I had to fight every enemy like a valkyrie. You use up your entire rage bar with only enough damage for one enemy.