Xetas

***With a working tenure just shy of a calendar year, XETAS have made a leap from knockout threat to knockout certainty in record time. When we released last summer’s debut 7”, “The Knife” b/w “The Silence,” the band was cited for “walking the tightrope between heavy-and-catchy”, and while that was true enough at the time, their resulting full-length, The Redeemer has both attributes in staggering abundance. Still refusing to reveal their full names (Google it if you’re bothered), the trio of D (vocals, guitar), K (bass, vocals) and M (drums) are hardly the first US underground gang to combine the anthemic with the jagged, but there’s only a handful who’ve fired a broadside with nearly this much confidence. Expertly recorded by IAN RUNDELL (Spray Paint, The Dead Space, Ghetto Ghouls), The Redeemer hits stores at the end of the month, followed by March and April U.S. dates.  
 
“The Austin trio lead off with a track built around a guitar riff big enough to put a smile on Greg Sage’s pallid mug. The flip channels both Deniz Tek and Kenny Chambers. LP due soon, it’ll be interesting to see which direction it heads—Byron Coley (The Wire)