Quicksand

One of the first American groups to marry post-hardcore with alt-metal, Quicksand boast the kind of legacy that cannot be measured by record sales alone. The original quartet emerged from New York’s hardcore scene in 1990. Fronted by screamer and guitarist Walter Schreifels (whose previous credits included Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today), the band developed a bold and inimitable sound by folding hardcore aggression and noise-rock scum into slithering arrangements and sine-wave-like dynamics informed by Washington, D.C.’s Dischord Records. Their first two albums, 1993’s Slip and 1995’s Manic Compression, became cult classics, exerting a massive impact on outfits such as Deftones and At the Drive-In. Unfortunately, tensions within the band led to a first breakup from 1995 to 1997 and a second from 1999 to 2012. Schreifels spent the early 2000s focusing on other projects, including Rival Schools, while bassist Sergio Vega joined Deftones. When Quicksand reunited in 2012, they did not disappoint. Their third and fourth albums, 2017’s Interiors and 2021’s Distant Populations, ingeniously temper the riff-driven urgency of the group’s early output with icy textures informed by classic shoegaze.