Since emerging in 2008, booze and rebellion, belligerence and unbridled fun have been all potent elements to the punk rock roar of UK quartet Skurvi. Equally, inescapable hooks, voracious riffs, and a sing-a-long prowess second to none have shaped attitude loaded songs which nag and incite whilst lending themselves to insatiable partying. Nothing has changed in the Brighton band’s new album Get ‘Em In, though fair to say that every element has been turned up numerous notches for its thirteen tenaciously rousing punk anthems.
Creating contagious brawls of old school punk, oi!, and raw rock ‘n’ roll since day one, Skurvi has earned a potent reputation for their bracing anthemic confrontations and the 2014 released Pints Half Full EP. It has led to strong anticipation for the first album from the foursome of vocalist Jimmy Skurvi, guitarist Perry, bassist Liam, and drummer Craig; a wait quickly made very worthwhile with opener Till We Die. Straight away rhythms and riffs gang up on ears as a swinging hook lays down easy going but potent bait. Led by the rousing tones of Jimmy, the band is soon calling the shots with their gang shouts around as catchy a slice of punk rock as you are likely to hear this year.
It is a spirit inflaming start to the Pat Collier mixed and mastered album; not offering major surprises but commandingly fresh and virulent as it gets the listener to their feet with vocal involvement included and sets the appetite up for things to come starting with Skinhead. UK Subs like in many ways, the street punk toned track jabs and pokes with its jangling riffs and intrusive rhythms as Jimmy vocally challenges. There is no option but to get physically and vocally involved; a submission all tracks draw to be fair and majorly highlighted by the outstanding Snatch Squad with its rolling rhythms and deliciously throaty bassline entangled in more anthemic vocal incitement from across the band. With a ring The Adicts to it, the song as the first track upon Get ‘Em In, becomes a firm favourite with lingering persuasion.
Drunken Nights whips up attention with its harmonic vocal calls and niggling hook next whilst Alright follows with a great Stiff Little Fingers like character to its full throttle stomp. Both provide choruses which instantly spark eager participation; again a constant success which is just as inescapable in the likes of Isn’t Where It Ends, a seventies scented oi! bred track which might lack the final spark of previous tracks but still whips up nothing less than thick enjoyment.
Skum Rises brings a Spunk Volcano and the Eruptions to it which is no surprise as the track was written by Spunk himself, the only non Skurvi written provocation on the album. With its middle finger forcibly erect, band and song quarrel with ears whilst leaving them greedily satisfied before Better Way bounds in with sinew swung beats and a feisty attitude in sound and word to the fore. Again whether there is anything new in the song can be debated but with its refreshing urgency and cantankerous imagination, there is little care as it continues the album’s unstoppable infection of ears and the passions.
She’s Coming is a straightforward and seriously enjoyable stirring of punk instincts whilst Wanting More has a Crashed Out meets Royal Oi! scent to it; both tracks again only feeding an increasing greed for more though the pair do get outshone by the blistering assault of Geezer. Bruising and imposingly catchy, the song shows that punk comes best raw and without any graces before the closing pair of Work and Her leave release and listener on a breathless high with their own individual punk riots. Hooks and anthemic vocals are as keen and weighty as ever in both, their pairing providing a mighty end to a relentlessly enjoyable rock ‘n’ roll scrap.
Skurvi do not try to reinvent the punk scene with their sound and indeed Get ‘Em In but instead focus on having and giving bruising fun whilst creating invigorating spirit rousing proposals. It is punk rock to the core, boisterous rock ‘n’ roll as it should be, and boy is it fun.
Get ‘Em In is out now via STP Records @ http://www.stprecords.co.uk/page4.htm
https://www.facebook.com/skurvi https://twitter.com/skurviband
Pete RingMaster 22/03/2016
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