Slip is the debut studio album by American post-hardcore band Quicksand, released on February 9, 1993, through Polydor Records. "Omission" and "Unfulfilled" first appeared on their 1990 self-titled EP. Slip was well received by music critics and is now considered a classic in the post-hardcore and alternative metal genres, influencing many acts including Torche and Deftones.[1][2][3]
On February 3, 2023, Quicksand announced a 30th Anniversary Edition of their debut LP "Slip" being re-issued on vinyl by the Boston based record label Iodine Recordings. The 30th Anniversary Edition of "Slip" also included a 64-page hardcover book with band photographs, rare concert posters, and a foreword by Walter Schreifels. The book also contains commentary from notable musicians from the punk scene, including: Scott Ian of Anthrax, Geoff Rickly of Thursday, Stephen Brodsky of Cave In, Dennis Lyxzén of Refused, Tim McIlrath of Rise Against, and many more. The record was also remastered for vinyl using the original 1993 master tapes.[6]
Background and recording
Quicksand released their self-titled debut EP in 1990 through Revelation Records. The release received attention within the underground music community and led to the band signing with the major label Polydor Records, an outcome that the vocalist Walter Schreifels described as unexpected. Coming from New York's hardcore punk scene, the group hesitated over the offer, with Schreifels recalling concerns about the cultural implications of moving from the underground to a corporate label. Ultimately, they accepted, viewing it as an opportunity to focus more fully on music. The transition brought the band into circumstances that contrasted sharply with their beginnings. Schreifels noted that their debut EP had been recorded on a budget of about $1,500, while their first major label sessions involved studios where costs were significantly higher. Despite this, he recalled that they were granted considerable creative freedom during the process.[7]
In 1992, Quicksand began recording their debut full-length album Slip at Long View Farm Studios in North Brookfield, Massachusetts.[7] The band worked with the producers Steven Haigler and Don Fury, who had previously collaborated with Agnostic Front, Helmet, and Gorilla Biscuits, Schreifels' previous band. Schreifels said they "really wanted to capture a fucking-around-in-rehearsal type feeling — the kind of total energetic release you get when you're playing from the heart and just spilling your guts." Shortly before the album's release, he added, "We're definitely an amalgamation of all the aggressive stuff that's come out of New York, but we wanted to be a bit more cerebral. Aggressive music is great, but we want to make songs that have a point as well."[2]
As they worked on the record, Schreifels recalled how the band was conscious of the rapid changes happening in music at the time. He noted that even before Nirvana's breakthrough, they had recognized a shift, pointing to the unusual presence of bands like Sonic Youth on the Billboard charts. According to him, Quicksand saw potential in this climate but were not focused on pursuing commercial success. Instead, the group wanted to create "a cool record for the people we wanted to affect", while navigating what he described as "all of these crosscurrents". The prospect of the album becoming "big" felt abstract to them, but Schreifels emphasized the excitement of being part of a period when "really exciting and unusual stuff" was gaining wider attention.[7]
Rather than chasing trends, Schreifels explained that Quicksand aimed to develop something distinct from the surrounding alternative rock movement. Coming out of the hardcore scene, the band wanted to retain what they valued from it while also adding an experimental edge. He cited Fugazi, Jane's Addiction, and Helmet as key inspirations: Fugazi for their avant-garde, DIY sensibility; Jane's Addiction for their experimental and theatrical approach to rock; and Helmet for their jazz-informed, math-like structures. Quicksand, as Schreifels described it, were younger and "regurgitating their sound with our influences", which allowed them to push at stylistic boundaries while still working within the hardcore framework.[7]
Composition
Genre and influences
Fugazi (top) and Helmet (bottom), two bands frequently cited as key influences on Slip.
Slip has been described as a post-hardcore,[a]alternative metal,[11] and post-metal album,[2] with critics frequently pointing to influences from Quicksand's post-hardcore contemporaries such as Fugazi[b] and Helmet.[c] Tom Watson of The Quietus placed the record alongside those bands, though he noted that Quicksand displayed little of their subtlety.[12] J.J. Anselmi of The A.V. Club wrote that Slip "combines the irony and heaviness of Helmet with Fugazi's penchant to dismantle sound in the most energetic ways".[3]Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic similarly compared the group's "dense, metallic grind" to "a more streamlined version of Fugazi", while stressing that the album leaned more on heavy metal than punk rock, which he said gave the music its most effective weight.[13] Conversely, Karl Stark of The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that "Quicksand isn't quite Fugazi," but added that "Quicksand's Slip may be the closest thing you'll find to the fabled Fugazi sound at your local mall record shop."[17] Quicksand's drummer Alan Cage acknowledged Fugazi's influence on Slip, noting that "Early D.C. hard-core […] had a much more melodic vocal style", but added that he felt the album's music was "more like Velvet Underground or Black Sabbath".[14] Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan drew connections to a broader set of artists, likening Slip's approach to Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, the Smiths, and Jane's Addiction.[9] Jon Wiederhorn of Loudwire also highlighted the band's "familiarity with and affection for gloomy English pop bands like The Cure and The Smiths", and heard echoes of Swans and Joy Division in its "fragmented rhythms" and "self-deprecating, navel-gazing vibe".[2]
Some writers emphasized how Slip stretched beyond strict genre definitions. Andrew Bonazeli of Decibel described the album as fusing "equal parts Helmet staccato, Soundgarden sack and My Bloody Valentine dreampop into something entirely its own", arguing that even the expansive term "post-hardcore" fell short of capturing its sound.[15] Watson likewise wrote that "Quicksand's infinite spell of genre wooing soared within Slip's dozen tracks",[12] while Stereo Review noted how the record broke from punk and metal convention, observing that although those genres often "clomp along like only one rhythm is allowed", Slip was at times "downright sinuous".[18]
Music and lyrics
Slip, in Wiederhorn's words, "toed the line between fuming, raging dissonance and well-crafted melodicism".[2] Matt Ashare of The Boston Phoenix similarly noted that "melody and muscle are equal partners in this accessible punk hybrid",[19] while Stephen Hill of Metal Hammer characterized it as "the perfect blend of inward looking distain, melodic vocals, punk rock attitude and weighty (if not heavy) musicianship".[20] Alex Deller of the BBC called it "a taut mix of staccato crunches, fluttering harmonics, and chiming bass notes", with songs shifting from "hoarse melodies and jittery desperation to coruscating crashes". He noted that tracks like "Omission" demonstrated "immaculate poise and a white-knuckled grip on their surging dynamics".[1] Dave Pehling of CBS News likewise highlighted the band's "creative use of space and quiet/loud dynamics" on songs such as "Fazer", "Freezing Process", and "Dine Alone".[21]
Wiederhorn wrote that Schreifels and the guitarist Tom Capone's "jagged detuned guitar chords and sustained tangles of feedback" worked in tandem with the Cage's tumbling, syncopated patterns,[2] while Ashare highlighted the way "swirling guitar textures and sophisticated drum patterns" combined "with strident, Fugazi-style rhythmic barrages and hammering riffs".[19] The band also built tension through droning rhythms, sudden pauses, and elastic, bass-led passages, which Wiederhorn said "indicat[ed] the band listened to far more than New York hardcore".[2] Anselmi singled out Cage's drumming for his "tendency to accent off beats with nimble crashes and bell hits throughout the album".[3] Watson described how his "snares penetrate incessant hi-hat slaps" while "sludgy riffs travel like aggressive circle pits", a backdrop against which Schreifels' vocals appeared as "husked, tonal wails".[12] The band also make use of dual guitar interplay, with Bryne Yancey of Punknews.org noting its lasting influence in songs like "Fazer", "Head to Wall", and "Dine Alone", while Stark wrote that its "twin-Marshalled guitars roar and crunch with a martial precision that rivals Helmet, AC/DC and Metallica".[17] For Emma Johnston of Metal Hammer, the music was "crammed with gleaming solos and basslines that could flatten the Hulk".[8]
Schreifels' vocals on Slip were described in several ways by critics. Pehling referred to them as "raging, angst-ridden vocals",[21] while Deller called them "strained, strung-out vocals".[1] Ashare wrote that the album's "relentless assault coalesces around singer Walter Schreifels' angst-ridden, raw-throated, self-improvement manifestoes".[19] Beyond their emotional quality, critics also highlighted the way Schreifels' voice worked in relation to the band's sound. Erlewine noted that although Schreifels "spews out enough angst-ridden lyrics", what stood out was how his delivery fit into the band's dense sound.[13] Jeff Terich of Treble wrote that his "pitch-perfect screams" amplified the group's "melodic hardcore assault", adding greater force to the songs.[10] Other reviewers compared his style to well-known figures: Wiederhorn described his "singy-screamy vocals" as "the perfect hybrid of Henry Rollins and Fugazi's Ian MacKaye",[2] while Gina Arnold of Entertainment Weekly remarked that Schreifels had "a fetching Kurt Cobain-like catch in his bellow" that made lyrics such as "Speak your mind!" sound "desperately important".[22]
Slip presents lyrics that address a range of personal and social concerns, with Ashare writing that "Schreifels digs deeper than your average ranter".[19] Schreifels described Slip as "a really intense, from-the-heart record", contrasting it with the "more fun and optimistic" tone of Gorilla Biscuits. He characterized the album as "way more introverted and cathartic as a form of personal expression", adding that its "earnestness" came from the genuine "emotion, commitment and desperation" that went into it. Schreifels also viewed the record as reflective of the feelings of his generation, explaining that "Slip was reflective of how a lot of people my age felt at the time — and probably how people that age always feel". While Gorilla Biscuits represented what he honestly felt as a younger musician, Slip marked a shift as he got older and his outlook changed.[6]
Songs
Slip opens with "Fazer", introduced by Cage's drumming, which Anselmi described as beginning with "a Bonham triplet and flam", establishing a heavy approach that leads into "a mammoth backbeat".[3] Wiederhorn noted that the track starts with "a colossal beat and a surging riff ghosted by a moody bassline", with the band layering and removing "guitars of varying intensity" as the song progresses.[2] Terich highlighted its place within post-hardcore of the time, describing it as containing "even-tempo, syncopation-rich, mid-range-heavy, riff-centric rock action".[23] Schreifels delivers "syncopated shouts"[3] and lyrics that confront the pressure to conform,[19] while the chorus, marked by "a shrill, catchy lick", serves as a "vague declaration of discontent".[7]
"Head to Wall" begins with an uptempo rock verse driven by Sergio Vega's bass, but it soon shifts into dissonance by pausing for a full measure. Cage and Vega form an undercurrent that supports Capone and Schreifels as they add "a wave of cynical pop harmonies". The song features a straightforward breakdown in what Anselmi called "the spirit of Gorilla Biscuits and Youthof Today's hardcore sing-alongs".[3] Hill writing for Louder described the track as a "bizarre Fugazi and Alice in Chains mash-up", noting Schreifels' "throat shredding yet inescapable melodies" throughout.[7] Lyrically, Kevin Ruggeri of Pitchfork wrote that it "uncovers the plight of American society", captured in the line: "We all want everything but we all can't fit in the door."[24]
"Dine Alone" opens with Cage's "signature thundering drum work" alongside distortion and feedback that Terich described as "intense and subtle all at once", before resolving into what he called "the Quicksand dissonance".[23] Anselmi noted the song's movement between "palm mutes and high, discordant chords", with Cage adding "oddly placed fills" in the introduction.[3] According to Wiederhorn, the track layers "a lunging guitar line with abrasive stabs of distortion and a staggered beat", while its midsection opens up to "breathe and meander like Nothing's Shocking-era Jane's Addiction".[2] Hill described "Dine Alone" as shifting between "shimmering dream pop and grinding metal",[7] while Yancey highlighted the band's ability to "seamlessly escalate and recede tension". Yancey also pointed to details such as a "downtuned, nearly riff-less, buzzing guitar" in the second verse, Schreifels' "perfect enunciation even while screaming", and Vega's "clean-yet-threatening" bass tone.[25] The theme of isolation and disenchantment surfaces in "Dine Alone",[2] where Schreifels "ponders the existential implications of eating alone".[19]
The album's title track, "Slip", runs just over two minutes and, according to Anselmi, features Capone and Schreifels' guitars that "plow forward like an indifferent stream of rush hour traffic". He described the song as "a microcosm of Slip", noting it is "completely devoid of bullshit" in how it took "the shortest road possible to get the point across".[3] Ruggeri remarked that the track "loses itself within the odd rhythmic meters".[24] "Freezing Process" begins with Vega's gentle bass chords, which Anselmi notes are "quickly destroyed with a noisy barrage" from the rest of the band.[3] With Schreifel "rage[ing] against apathy",[19] the song unfolds as a "push and pull between elegance and brute force", as described by Hill.[7] Anselmi wrote that a dual guitar lead drives the chorus, with notes that "don't conform to any traditional scale" but "push against each other to create an underlying discord". In the bridge, Vega drops out and Cage's polyrhythmic drumming carries the guitars, "hitting upbeats on his ride while building a tom groove that emphasizes the downbeat", according to Anselmi.[3]
According to Kevin Ruggeri of Pitchfork, aggression reaches its musical peak in "Lie and Wait", which he described as "a scorching outcry against unjust wages for working women".[24] It features what Yancey called an "escalated, dirty-bass heavy breakdown" while transitioning between "bludgeoning rock and spacey shoegaze", with each section marked by "crisp transitions".[3] "Unfulfilled" is a reworked version of a song from Quicksand's self-titled EP,[24] and places Schreifels' vocals at the forefront during the verses, with Anselmi noting that the song then moves into "a subtly caustic groove" before opening up into "another tongue-in-cheek dual guitar lead". Anselmi also described the ending, where Capone performs "a spiraling solo that sounds like he's ripping the strings from his guitar, destroying this rock cliché from the inside".[3] Watson observed that while the track features "discordant scratches and cavernous bass rolls", Schreifels delivers his vocals with intense focus, reciting lines such as "To stand alone / To be without the glue, that keeps us glued together / And feeling so excrementable," which Watson compared to "a gauche Ian Mackaye operating a speeding locomotive, tearing away from the rails."[12]
In "Can Opener", a commentary on vanity, Cage guides the band through each section with extended drum fills "bookmarked by adroit doubles", according to Anselmi. Schreifels delivers his vocals in a syncopated style, shouting lines such as "The attention you're not getting, it makes you so upset" amid a breakdown that balances pop and heaviness. The track later moves into a sparse, jazzy section before concluding with a "windstorm of cacophony", following the movement of Cage's fills throughout the song.[3] "Omission" is a reworked version of a song from Quicksand's self-titled EP, with Ruggeri noting that the new rendition "actually increases the intensity and fury of the original".[24] Schreifels called the track a "mission statement", explaining that he wanted it to set the tone for the band, drawing inspiration from a part in Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er".[6] Anselmi noted Schreifels' "punchy vocals" and added that "Instead of the one-sided anger in many hardcore lyrics, however, he implicates himself in his tirade about self-delusion when he says, 'Your story is always changing / We change it to hide the pain.'" The track concludes on a ringing note that blends into the TV-static noise introducing the following song, "Baphomet".[3]
"Baphomet" is an instrumental track that explores a variety of textures and atmospheres.[2][10] Terich described it as traversing "a world of rock flavors, from Fugazi-esque noise rock to swirly, shoegazer spans, a la Swervedriver or My Bloody Valentine".[10] Wiederhorn described it as "an instrumental tidal wave of stomp boxes, distortion and feedback" that moves across the stereo field like "a hurricane whose eye passes over a town a minute or two before the destruction begins anew".[2] Anselmi observed that "airy yet abrasive guitar notes winnow through" the track as Schreifels and Capone "occupy opposing ends of the sonic spectrum", with the guitars periodically dissipating to let Cage and Vega bridge the sections. The longest on Slip, it also features another unpredictable Capone guitar solo.[2]
"Too Official" was described by Ruggeri as grabbing "the listener from its opening guitar riff".[24] Anselmi noted that the track had "a shiny quality that offsets the anxiousness of 'Baphomet'", and wrote that it "blazes an aural swath with its straight-ahead attack".[3] The album closes with "Transparent", which Wiederhorn described as combining "chiming harmonics with tight riffs and open chords to create a roiling tempest". He noted that, like much of Quicksand's best material, the song "threatens to go hurtling off the rails, but never does".[2] Ruggeri noted the track's lyrical metaphor of "treating your days like a countdown / Seconds pass by waiting just to blow up",[24] while Anselmi remarked that the song "seems to convey optimism, but, because it's Quicksand, is actually a middle finger topped with a smartass grin".[3]
Slip received generally positive reviews upon release. Writing for the music press, Lincoln Ellis stated that "the first 10 seconds" of Slip proved Quicksand had "become masters in the art of loud, grungy, noise rock", praising the precision of their performance as a defining strength. He contrasted this with the perceived sloppiness of many noise-oriented bands, concluding that "the smells coming out of Quicksand's kitchen do more than tantalize, they satisfy."[27] Bill Pahnelas of the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote that although Schreifels' vocals were "more emotion-wracked and frantic than decipherable", Quicksand "sound[ed] convincing" due to "the crisp interplay of a pair of guitars and a chunky rhythm section".[28]
Some critics were more divided. Simon Ashberry writing for the Telegraph& Argus described Slip as "an intriguing blend of old-style hardcore American rock and the kind of air-brushed distortion which has become the hallmark of the Nirvana generation". He wrote that Quicksand were "bursting with ideas", but that their sound "seems hampered by doubt over whether they actually want to make the all-out gritted teeth approach or add a more commercial sheen".[29]Chicago Tribune's Brenda Herrmann wrote that Quicksand's "hard-core sound gets sunk in the same trap as Henry Rollins—their wordiness ends up bogging down the music". She noted that "when the melodies and feelings come together, it works", but added that "too many songs, especially 'Freezing Process' and 'Unfulfilled', simply become bass beats set to rhythmless ranting".[26]
Over time, Slip has been widely praised in retrospective assessments. Alex Deller of the BBC described it as "a 40-minute master class in post-hardcore perfection".[1] Writing for Punknews.org, Bryne Yancey noted that the album "still completely rips" despite its age, and called it "probably the best non-Fugazi post-hardcore record ever released".[25] Matt Terich of Treble emphasized the album's scope, stating that "every track on Slip has a host of musical surprises", and characterized it as both "a genre album and a genre-defining album". He wrote that while it delivers "early '90s post-hardcore, screamy, rock awesomeness", it does so "with devastating originality".[23] Kevin Ruggeri of Pitchfork similarly highlighted its individuality, calling Slip "a remarkable album" that demonstrated Quicksand had "a unique voice to offer to the world of music, regardless of category".[24]
The album is included in Decibel magazine's Hall of Fame.[15]
↑ Ellis, Lincoln (March 14, 1993). "Quicksand: "Slip"". Star-Gazette. p.4. Archived from the original on October 4, 2025. Retrieved October 3, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
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