Bryan Garris and Isaac Hale are the co-leaders of Knocked Loose, and you'd have to imagine that would keep them plenty busy, especially since Hale also has side projects like Inclination. But every once in a while, Garris and Hale still make time to make some noise with xWeaponx, a straightforwardly brutal metallic hardcore band with a militant straight-edge theme. Hale plays guitar and sometimes screams in xWeaponx, while Bryan Garris plays bass. Garris' brother Trey, also of the Louisville death metal destroyers Gates To Hell, plays drums, and their friend Dave Baugher fronts the band. xWeaponx are the kind of project who really only play hardcore festivals, which means that every live set is an event. The band steers right into that, only ever releasing music that will induce absolute bedlam in a big room. You can really, really hear that in their new demo.
xWeaponx have a very small discography. Until very recently, it was just a 2022 demo and a 2023 split with World Of Pleasure. Last month, they dropped the ass-beater anthem, "Everybody Breaks." Today, they unleash their new demo. I love the idea that they'll only ever release demos and splits, never bothering with albums or EPs. Isaac Hale produced Weapon X Demo 2, and it's got five tracks, one of which is "Everybody Breaks." LA wildmen Human Garbage team up with xWeaponx on the minute-long track "On My Own" -- funny name for a collab. Earth Crisis leader Karl Buechner, perhaps the original metallic-hardcore straight-edge militant, shows up on "BNE," referencing his band's classic "Firestorm."
"Weapon X Outro," another one-minute track, has some deep-chug riffs and a massive gang-chant: "Weapon X! Straight edge! Fuck you!" Next week, xWeaponx will play LDB Fest in their Louisville hometown, and I cannot imagine what will happen when they play that outro. They're playing LA's Sound And Fury in July, too. The whole EP is extremely heavy and fun, and you can hear it below.
Weapon X Demo 2 is out now on DAZE.
