| CD REVIEW Outsmarted |
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Band : Outsmarted Originally founded with a different line-up in 2003, this Linz (Austria) based band started out as a SkatePunk band. After some shows and membership changes, they however found their current style (which sees varied screamed vocals setting the tone in a melodic Hardcore) in 2004’s Fall. Following a lot of shows all around Austria, the band eventually recorded their self-titled 4-track demo in June 2005, saw it released through Suspect Records, and supported the release successfully with their first support tour (for Punk Rockers Rentokill). Throughout the rest of 2005 and most of 2006, the boys (current line-up includes lead singer/ shouter Oliver, suitarists Clemens & Marcus, bassist/ backing singer Christoph, and drummer/ backing singer Alex) continued to play Austria, and in Spring 2007 even did a headlining tour. In between, they also spent precious time at Armin Breuer’s No Budget Studios, recording the 7 songs which would eventually be released as the band’s EP The Panic Theory late October of 2007. In the time after that, the band managed to play support to gigs done by the likes of Story Of The Year, Sum 41, Architects, Hopesfall, Cancer Bats, AFI, Walls Of Jericho, Tsunami Bomb, Fear My Thoughts, The Sorrow, Tribute To Nothing, Redlightsflash, The Change, and Kid Down (just to name-drop the more important ones). In May 2009 the band not only announced they posted all 7 songs of their EP opn their MySpace page for free download, but also that were starting the recording process of a full-length album, with material which was gonna be slighty different from their earlier stuff. Interrupted by a multitude of shows, the band took their time to record the 12 new songs & a new version of the song “Vampires” (off The Panic Theory) properly, in the meantime had a new line of merchandise by Benjamin Lande (designed stuff for the likes of Parkway Drive, Vanna, Anti-Flag and Fall Out Boy to name but a few), and hired a dude from Germany to shop their music (in the form of rough mixes of some of the songs) around to a couple of labels. In February 2010 the band was proud to announce 1) that the mixing and mastering of their full-length was finally complete; 2) a number of concert dates including a 4-day/ date trip in Holland; 3) contact with several labels had been established. A month later the Austrians confirmed having signed their album for release through Lockjaw, and we were sent the promo copy at the same time as the one from This Familiar Smile (review posted at same time as this one). Funny, because somehow the two fit together! As mentioned above, Outsmarted changed their musical direction somewhat from the original screamed Hardcore 5I’m sorry to say I didn’t check/ compare thanks to the available songs at the band’s MySpace page), and while there’s still a lot of screaming goin’ on (the lead singer occasionally goes calmer, as during the posted “Sex Degrees”, and the backing singers are actually more of a clean type, on the occasional moments they become active), you’ve also got a lot of moments when the guitars are played in that same semi-acoustic style as TFS, although overall Outsmarted àre somewhat more distorted! Of course Outsmarted’s music is less angular and less complex, but there IS a certain degree of Prog in their music…making for another similarity! With the two songs posted at myspace.com/outsmarted, the band brings a perfect image of both their “heaviest” and “calmer” side (although “No Stranger To Danger” IS somewhat short compared to the majority of the songs – the only other song ranging under the 2-minute barrier is the really great instrumental “The Fall Of Black Jack” – not posted). As a small point of aggravation, I feel a need to mention the fact that our promo copy does not include the remake of “Vultures” or the album closing track “Dandylicious” (even though they are mentioned). Not having been able to hear those, I cannot tell you anything about ‘em, now can I? Still, as a whole this type of music is among my favourite! And the modest rating is simply due to my wish to hear more of the band, new style, before adding ‘em to my gadda-have lists! 90/100 Tony.
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