posted 08/07/2005 (Sun) @ 03:21 pm
>>> Music Reviews
Quicksand - Slip (1993)
Punk / Rock / Alt-Metal
Excellent and subtly subversive
- Fazer
- Head To Wall
- Dine Alone
- Slip
- Freezing Process
- Lie And Wait
- Unfulfilled
- Can Opener
- Omission
- Baphomet
- Too Official
- Transparent
- How Soon Is Now
Criminally unnoticed and sublimely loud, Quicksand’s Slip seems to reach inside itself for each song, summoning up the power behind each great guitar riff. Quicksand exudes the same type of weird energy found on records by the Deftones or Rage Against the Machine, where passion seems mysteriously imbued with intelligence.
Like Deftones’ singer Chino Moreno’s infatuation with The Cure, or RATM’s Zach de la Rocha’s hang-ups on delicate matters like politics, Quicksand possess melodicism and subtlety to go with their heavy metal affectations. Just check out their fuzzed-up, palm-mutes-like-a-punching-bag cover of “How Soon Is Now?” by the Smiths for proof.
Following a terse drum roll of greeting, “Fazer” opens the album by laying down an irresistible groove perhaps worthy of standing as a mosh pit classic, while the squirrelly riff on “Dine Alone” will get heads nodding all the way through to the climactic bridge section, where heads start flying. Likewise, other cuts, like the title track, don’t really heat up until their own fiery endpieces, where guitarist Tom Capone’s unique and satisfying soloing style metaphorically puts the pedal to the floor. Other great moments are “Lie and Wait,” with a guitar part like an uncontrollable kerosene hose; “Unfulfilled,” a song you’ll feel you’ve known forever (in that good way in which the knowing is something drawn from the subconscious rather than something radio- or culture-born); and the sinister, chaotic instrumental “Baphomet.”
Talk of inspiring effect on future musicians and waxing poetic on the significance of screaming aside, Slip is an underground landmark album for anyone who’s ever enjoyed the clever side of the distorted electric guitar.
Tags: alt-metal, alternative, how soon is now cover, metal, mosh pit, punk, quicksand, slip
