New blood: Outshined

I should do these posts more often, as there are great new bands popping up all the time. Here's another one, Outshined from Richmond, Virginia. They're a young new band playing a crossover hardcore style that feels both contemporary as well as refers to the past. It's a style that's quite popular these days, and for good reason, hah. Bands like Bitter End, Broken Teeth, Take Offense, etc all have a modern sound but have clearly also listened to crossover bands like the Crumbsuckers, Ludichrist and D.R.I..

The same goes for Outshined, but even more so than the aforementioned bands, you can clearly hear their late 80s influences in the way the songs are written and played. And they are good at what they do! They don't stretch out songs needlessly, aside from closing track 'On Your Time' all the tracks are done within 2 and a half minutes. Get in, do your thing, and get out. Awesome! Outshined's singer also uses a vocal style and a flow that reminds of late 80s crossover bands. I will definitely keep this band on my radar!

Outshined has members of other Richmond bands Meth Lab and Barge, which are (were?) more rooted in powerviolence & grindcore, as well as postrockers Springtime. I don't know if Outshined is a sideproject for them or not, but either way, this is one awesome demo! Check it out!

Psycho Civilized compilation CD

The 90s gave us a ton of awesome compilations, some of which I've posted in the past, and I will continue to do so. Next in line: 'Psycho Civilized', which was released by Elevator Music in 1995 and contains a great selection of bands from across the States, altho the focus is on the CT scene. Elevator Music was from New Haven, CT where they were also involved with the Tune Inn club, hosting hardcore shows on a regular basis. They released stuff by hardcore bands like Dissolve, who are also on this comp, and Cleanser, but also punk and ska bands.

In true 90s fashion this comp starts with a spoken words track, in this case by Greg Bennick of Trial. After that the comp has 18 bands on it: Cornerstone, Trial, Vision Of Disorder, Brace, Dissolve, Blood Runs Black, Dismay, Stigmata, Tyrant Trooper, S.F.A., Killing Time, Asphalt, Botch, Jasta 14, Eventide, Shiv, Tapeworm and 25 Ta Life. Most bands should not be unknown to regular readers of OnexPath. Shiv feels a bit out of place with their noisey cover of Gang Of Four's 'Natural's Not In It' (called 'Gangüforé' on here), and Tyrant Trooper is straight up death metal, but the rest of the bands fall anywhere between indie/hardcore (Eventide) to old school (Cornerstone) to NYHC (Killing Time, 25 Ta Life) to more metallic hardcore (most other bands) etc... All in all, a solid comp that's great for playing in the car while driving to/from a show.

If anybody has any info on Brace from CT, please leave a comment. I love their track, but I can't find any info on them. I would love to hear from by them.

Psycho Civilized compilation CD