Walter Schreifels & Co. are back at it. Four years after their reunion album, Interiors, the band released Distant Populations, with eleven songs coming in at thirty-two minutes. These tracks pick up where Interiors left off; that is to say there’s nothing on here that sounds so much like ’90s-era Quicksand, but instead takes the albums from that decade as a starting point and expands. There are still some crunchy guitars and heavy drumming, along with meaty bass lines, but the material is more melodic than ever. Easy references would be Deftones and Thursday, except that Quicksand was originally an influence on both of them. The now three-piece can work both the melodic, sensitive sound (“Phase 90”) and the heavier end (“Katakana”) and everything in between. It’s going to be hard for the band to ever top their debut, Slip, but there are some really great tracks on here that both get your head bopping and hit you in the heart. It’s hard to believe that Walter is in his fifties and still knocking it out of the park like this, but look no further than Distant Populations for proof. –Kurt Morris (Epitaph)