Say Quicksand and you’re talking about one of the most important bands in the American — and global — post-hardcore universe, led by Walter Schreifels, a genuine top player on that scene (previously at work with Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today, Rival Schools and other formative stints in the independent rock ‘n’ roll circuit). Their run stretches back to 1990, through break-ups and reunions, infiltrating the aggression of hardcore punk and bastardising it with a sound built far more around groove — plus at least two seminal records delivered in their prime (as the pros like to say), the debut “Slip” and its follow-up “Manic Compression”.
This year the New York trio — singer/guitarist Schreifels, bassist Sergio Vega, once of Deftones, and drummer Alan Cage — released its fifth studio album overall, “Bring on the Psychics”, out on underground label Equal Vision Records and arriving five years after “Distant Populations”.
The title comes from a line by science populariser Carl Sagan, and the record grew out of Schreifels’ urge to re-examine his own past by reading it against the present — going back to the albums that shaped him as a kid (“Break Down The Walls”, “Start Today”), records that once pointed toward possible routes to a better future. All of it worked up with real energy, with parts made for the pit.
A fighting spirit runs through the thing, and it manages to sound contemporary rather than a fond wallow in the good old days — credit to Jon Markson, the producer with whom the band cut the tracks in just ten days, straight to the point, favouring an immediate approach to the material. “Bring on the Psychics” hits hard (“Get to It”, with its Snapcase feel; the aggressive “Regenerate”, “Cool Guy” and “Supercollider”, which carry a distinctly Deftones fragrance; or “Agency”, with its Helmet echoes) without losing the emotional dimension (“Crystallize”, “In Full Color” and the title track, which reeks of 90s alternative rock), and it throws in some surprising introspective turns like the intricate “Days You Run To”, which quietly lifts a few Smashing Pumpkins atmospheres.
Quicksand are alive and well. Age has brought experience and a certain wisdom: they know how to pace themselves now, when to be fast and when to be contemplative, how to alternate dissing tracks with lyrics about the unease of a world where everything runs counter to common sense and social justice — the will to fight your own limits and flaws, and the circumstances that test you and push you to improve, to get back up, to grow. “BOTP” may not go down in history as a rock ‘n’ roll milestone, but it’s a solid record with no real weak spots.
TRACKLIST
- Get To It
- Regenerate
- Agency
- Crystallize
- Supercollider
- In Full Color
- Days You Run To
- Cool Guy
- Moving Forward
- Bring On The Psychics