In the end of 1991 Björn Stigsson, who had been the guitar player and frontman in Leviticus for about ten years, teamed up with Sonny Larsson, former lead singer of Motherlode. Björn and Sonny had been friends since 1987, when Sonny did some of the vocals on Björn's solo album. The idea was to record another solo album from Björn. But after a while they changed their plans, and XT was formed. Sonny had been asked by Yngwie Malmsteen to become the singer for his band, but Sonny chose to continue his collaboration with Björn. The name XT was Björn's wife's idea, and it means Christ. Soon they were signed by Viva Records in Sweden, and they also signed a distribution deal with Frontline Records in America. In October 1992 they released their first self titled record. XT didn't have a permanent lineup at this time, so on the first record they had three guest musicians: Michael Ulfsgärd from Jerusalem played the drums, and on bass they had Håkan Anderson (Leviticus) and P-O Larsson. The music style on the first CD was rock/hard rock with plenty of keyboards. Björn said in HM issue#53: "Our first album was a little thin in terms of production, but it still opened up a lot for us, especially in Japan." XT also made a few live performance this year. XT now decided to concentrate on doing good records instead of being an intensive touring band. And in the summer 1993 the band went in to Björn's own studio and started to record their next album. So in October 1993 they released their second CD, 'Taxfree'. This time they came up with a much heavier album with better production, less keyboards and more guitars. With 'Taxfree' they saw success with over 10 000 albums sold in Japan alone. Although they sounded more as a bandon their second effort, they still didn't have a solid lineup. On this album Mick Nordström of Modest Attraction hit the drums, On keyboard they had Niklas Johnsson and P-O Larsson played the bas. After the success with 'Taxfree', XT entered the BTS studio again, and started to record their third album. In march 1995 they finally released 'Extended Empire' which took the band in to an even heavier direction. XT got great reviews for 'Extended Empire' in different music magazines all over the world. For the first time they now had, more or less, permanent members with Björn on guitar, Sonny on vocals, Kjell Andersson (original Leviticus member) on drums, Niklas Jonsson on keyboards and Johan Stark on bass. With this lineup they began to play more live shows. Still the band never surfaced on album after this, even though Bjåorn himself have stated that the band never broke up.

XT (1992) VIVA RECORDS

Being an old Leviticus fan, and even liking to an extent Björn Stigsson's solo effort, I was also eager to hear this band. XT is basically Björn Stigsson and Sonny Larsson (Motherlode), with a little help from some friends. Initially this was going to be Björn's second solo disc. But the guys decided to give the project a band name in stead. But the music is still very much in the same vein as 'Together With Friends'. XT is not a heavy metal band, at least not on this debut album. I'm not even sure I'd label this hard rock. It's more like a mix of AOR and pop/rock, with an annoying keyboard and electric drum sound. It's almost weird to see the date on the CD say 1992, when it sounds like something produced in 1982, when the whole new wave style, with electronic sounding beats, was new. This is an album totally void of any distinctive character. But that does not mean that it is a total stinker. Some of the songs are still enjoyable, but they would have been even better without that dreadful sounding keyboard and drums. The lyrics are very evangelic, and point towards the Christ as our Savior.

Killer tracks: All Your Love, Call Your Name

Related artists:

Leviticus, Björn Stigsson, Motherlode, Jerusalem, Modest Attraction