Skuff - "Demo 2012" Review

I'm seriously running out of new ways to say good things about Canada. Home of socialized health care, maple syrup, hockey, and more excellent grind and powerviolence bands than you can shake a stick at. A drum/bass powerviolence band from Canada, well that just seems like a flawless combination, does it not? That's where Skuff come in. This B.C. duo has been kicking around for a couple years, and released this 2012 demo tape earlier this summer. Nine tracks of catchy, groovy, lo-fi, gruff and rough violence. It's the type of stuff that I'm just instantly attracted too, and rarely find any faults with, and Skuff are no different. Sure, it's not original, not even a little bit, but who gives a shit? If it's not broken, don't fix it (or try to break it). The recording on the demo is totally lo-fi and blown out. The low-end from the bass just seeps over everything, but it never reaches the point of just being a distorted, unlistenable mess. The riffs are still present, and if the sound was cleaned up a bit, the dudes gnarly bass tone would shine through a bit more. I do wish the snare drum was a bit more present though, it doesn't cut through as much as I like in my powerviolence. Overall, it's a solid demo, and I'm looking forward to everything this band puts out in the future. They have a split tape with Bridgeburner coming out soon, which is also streaming on the bandcamp, and it's awesome stuff.

Rating: 7/10

~VII