We review “Bring On The Psychics”, Quicksand’s fifth album
Presentations should be unnecessary, but I suspect that Quicksand They are not as well known as other similar and contemporary bands such as Deftones. His are two emblematic albums such as “Slip” (93) and “Manic Compression” (95), two top works for lovers of post-hardcore and modern metal. They were and continue to be, ultimately, the favorite band of our favorite bands. Now they have just released a fifth album, “Bring On The Psychics”a balanced combination of urgency and introspection.
“Bring On The Psychics” It reflects on the passage of time, on life expectations and on the need to continue moving forward despite setbacks. Thus, the initial “Get To It” works as a wake-up call (“get yourself in focus”) and a recommendation: you have to wake up before it’s too late (“time is running out”). This insistent cut, really direct and catchy, sets the tone for an album that transmits the sensation of vertigo in pieces like “Crystallize”, a portrait of contemporary anxiety marked by the speed with which the days go by (“and the days go by so fast”) and constant uncertainty (“anything could happen”). Between one and the other, “Regenerate”, which is about learning from mistakes and accepting them with humility, with a curious pause that leads to a final burst of pure adrenaline (“balance, pride, humility”).
The present “Bring On The Psychics” It is the third album of their second stage, the one that began in 2012 after a long break. And in these first three shots, the members of Quicksand continue to demonstrate enviable creativity after fifty years. There is also “Supercollider” with that addictive dialogue between a muscular riff in the verses and an atmospheric chorus that inevitably refers to Rival Schools, another of the musical adventures of its singer and guitarist, Walter Schreifels.
The sixth track arrives, “In Full Color”, and the band made up of bassist Sergio Vega and drummer Alan Cage manages to summarize itself with the help of producer Jon Markson (Drug Church, Koyo, Drain, Samiam). This song condenses Quicksand’s evolution from the hardcore post-grunge of the nineties to that increasingly expansive and emotional post-hardcore that defines their most recent works.
The final section of the album reserves three incontestable songs. The trio builds an authentic “Deftonian” wall of sound in “Cool Guy”, while in “Moving Forward” they paradoxically travel to the past, to their first punk concerts in New York in the eighties, when teenagers with Crass patches were looking for an identity and almost a religion in that scene. They also look back on “Days You Run To,” a slow-paced piece with echoes of Radiohead and Elliott Smith, and wonder who they really were (“When we try to remember / Who we were yesterday”).
The imposing choruses of the piece that gives its name to the album close and further elevate the emotional intensity of a work that confirms Quicksand as one of the most influential bands of their generation, although popular recognition has never done justice to their legacy.
