X Is Loaded Rock Jillys on the 9th and get

• 5th Nov 2004

VmanEvents presents…….

X is Loaded
The Verra Cruz
The Lucida Console
PTA

Tues, Nov 9th @ Jillys Rockworld, Oxford Rd, Manchester. £5 adv from
www.ticketline.co.uk. 7.30pm, all ages gig.

Bath's finest – XisLoaded – announce a full UK headline tour for November. For full UK dates please see link

The band will also be releasing a new single “Racketeer” on the 22nd of November. Produced by Chris Sheldon, the explosive lead track shows the band reaching a new pinnacle in their career. The two other never before released songs, “Mass Exit” and “Dead Room”, produced by Paul Corkett, act as the perfect complement to the lead track. The single will be available in all the usual stores as a special limited edition 7″ or you can find it as an exclusive download from link

X IS LOADED Kerrang! album review – RAW NERVE (MUSIC FOR NATIONS)
KKKK

THE LOWDOWN: There's nothing more frustrating than a magnificent live band that can't produce the goods on record. With X Is Loaded, however, you can breathe easy, because this exhilarating debut conjures up the fire of their phenomenal live performances, which over the past few months have seen them share the stage with headliners Oceansize, Biffy Clyro, Million Dead and InMe.

Producer Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro) undoubtedly deserves credit here. From the moment opener “Zero” buzzes into existence there's a palpable electricity at work, each of the tracks boasting a ragged edge and snappy chorus that makes them as sing-able as they are musically expansive.

X Is Loaded essentially tout dark operatic punk driven by the ferocity of
Alex Martino's swooping guitar histrionics and Jake Robertson's schizophrenic screamed/sung vocals. The whole thing's made even more compelling by the fact that it's almost impossible to predict where the music will go next. Take the graceful opening of “The Start Of Everything” for example, which suddenly explodes into a searing riff-fuelled attack, or closer “Fallout” which finds Alex Cole's pummelling bass lines and the thundering drums of Jamie Gorman propelling the track into an apocalyptic finish.

X Is Loaded may be used to wiping the floor with their contemporaries on stage but “Raw Nerve” proves they can impress on disc too. One listen leaves the speakers simmering and a shiver up your spine, and it only improves with time. Awesome stuff.

BEST TRACKS: “Zero”, “Bleeding The Shapes”.