QUICKSAND | Interiors | Album Review

There are some bands out there that you'll never expect to come back to the recording studio after disbanding, especially if you are a band that called it quits two decades ago. Many people will discover bands after they have disbanded, and former members of the project will sometimes move to different bands, but it's not every day you see a band take 22 years off and then come back as promising as they ever were. That is exactly what alternative band Quicksand has proven to the world with their new album "Interiors", their first compilation of brand new recordings since 1995's sophomore disc "Manic Compression", which in turn followed a somewhat iconic debut album in the form of "Slip". Many fans of this band and the Deftones will probably recognize one of the members, bassist Sergio Vega, for replacing Chi Cheng as the Deftones' current bassist after Cheng's tragic accident, and with the release of this album it is set in stone that Sergio will now have to carry the weight of being in two active bands with the Deftones releasing their latest disc early last year and his original band Quicksand putting out their return album this year. So, with all of this in mind and not to mention all of the excitement coming from fans everywhere, let's take a look at the album and see what Quicksand has to offer in 2017.

Before the release of "Interiors", three singles were released to the public throughout a near three-month time period lasting from the middle of August to the beginning of November, the three singles being the title track, "Cosmonauts", and "Illuminant". All of these singles are unique songs and give a baseline of the style that's to be expected on the full 12-song tracklist. It seems like in the 22 years that the band members have been apart, they've matured as a complete unit as these song succeed differently than the stuff from their early days. There's less of the rougher post-hardcore edge and more of a melodic and hypnotizing edge that is present in all of these songs, even though at the root of these songs they fit perfectly within the post-hardcore puzzle and carry the charm that a lot of early post-hardcore bands like Glassjaw, Finch, and even the Deftones themselves had. It's notable that even the moments with the dial turned up in terms of energy have a sense of maturity to them as well. "Under The Screw" sounds like it would fit well into one of the band's earlier works as does the adjacent track "Warm And Low", both of which containing excellent guitar riffs as well as a great vocal performance from Walter Schreifels as well. "Hyperion" is probably my favorite track here with is 6/6 time signature and some of the band's most melodic and beautifully twinged soundscapes to date, while the following track "Fire This Time" succeeds in having a very unique riff which sounds like it was written in a certain irregular time signature.

Overall, while this disc doesn't necessarily keep my attention for the last three tracks, "Interiors" will be remembered as one of the year's better albums for sure. I'm not sure if this will be an album that will have rock fans giving a minute-long round of applause at the end, but the tracks that succeed on this album REALLY succeed as music that should be listened to in full. Fans who listened to Quicksand in the 1990's that wondered if the band would ever come back to making music will not only have their expectations met with this album, but there will be a couple of new things brought to the table that those fans will appreciate even more as this album is a bit more melodic than those past works. This album, in a lot of ways, sort of reminds me of the new Black Map album in the sense that both albums have a ton of quality in songwriting, in performance, and in trying the best that they can to hook in listeners and give them something worth checking out. And while I'm not impressed by this disc in the same way that I was with Black Map, Quicksand has still done a good job in showing the world that this style of post-hardcore is still alive and well in this day and age and hasn't sunk in quicksand while watching the modern era of post-hardcore climb to the top. It's easy to say if you're looking for something different than that, please give this album a listen immediately.  

RATING: 8/10 

What did you think about the record? Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know in the comments below. And of course, these are only my opinions. If your opinions are different, awesome! If they're similar, then that's great, too. So, don't hesitate- comment to me about it down below. Take care.