Quicksand seemed destined to stay posthardcore’s version of a brilliant cult TV show that regrettably lasted only a season or two. Before disbanding in 1995, the New York-based four-piece released an EP and two near perfect but underappreciated albums, Slip (1993) and Manic Compression (1995). Following the breakup, the band’s four members (front man Walter Schreifels, drummer Alan Cage, bassist Sergio Vega, and guitarist Tom Capone) dispersed among a host of other projects like Rival Schools and Handsome, while elements of Quicksand’s brand of tightly constructed muscular and melodic rock—a sort of thinking man’s hardcore—lived on in their more commercially successful successors ranging from Tool to Deftones (whom Vega joined in 2008). Eventually Quicksand reunited for a special one-off show and an appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in 2012. In the half decade since, they’ve played a few sporadic shows, but have remained mum about about whether or not they planned to make new music. That is, until August, when they announced the November release of Interiors, their first new album in more than 20 years. The album’s lead single, “Illuminant,” echoes vintage Quicksand; from the dissonant opening riff it hits like a freight train that keeps chugging and screeching over the song’s four lean minutes. Other songs on the album reveal a kinder, gentler version of their former selves. Schreifels’s raspy voice is nearly swallowed up in the noise of jangly tunes like “Normal Love,” and two brief, dreamy instrumental tracks threaten to float off into space at any moment. The sound of classic Quicksand hasn’t been lost to the sands of time after all, and their 22-year-long break has tempered their breakneck aggression and given them permission, at last, to take the foot off the gas and enjoy the ride. v
Update: Quicksand is currently touring as a three piece; in a recent statement the band announced Capone is at home focusing on his health.
