The Boardwalk -- Quickly becoming one of the top flight venues to catch a large all ages show in the Sacramento area, The Boardwalk hosted another big show with the celebration of Inruin's long awaited new disc "The Tenth of Never" on, ironically, January 10th, 2003. Joining the veteran Inruin on stage for this show was the heavy melodic act Brand X Savior, the chaotic, heavy as hell Skribble, and the mellower, hard rock style of Firepie to create a very full show complete with the crowds, the vibe and an extended Inruin set to close out the night.

Based primarily on the size of the shows held at the Boardwalk lately (in the last four months or so), this venue has easily shot to the top of the list for places to catch a good show, with a sound system that holds its own and a vibe (especially for this show) that's a bit uptight (because of the all ages restrictions) but tolerant enough to allow moshing and a good heavy music atmosphere. With a segregated bar area for the drinking crowd and the rest of the venue open to the all ages clientele, the Boardwalk draws the crowds well, especially for nights like this one, with a disc release that has been in the making for several years now.

For Inruin, this was the culmination of several years of heartache, success, headaches and drama all rolled into one exhausting showing, celebrating a disc that the band has been putting together for quite some time. With their last release having been back in 1998, this new disc, four plus years later, put the band back on track and opened up their newest and brightest direction.

For the rest of this show, the highlights were plentiful as well, with Brand X Savior continually impressing with their incredibly tight wound live stage show and Skribble peeling the paint off the wall with their blisteringly heavy hardcore, contemporary metal style. Firepie was the only real unusual choice for this night as they brought a horn section flavored, decidedly pop oriented musical taste to the stage in the third slot. Overall, though, this show simply blasted its way throughout the entire night, coming to head with Inruin on stage crushing their long live set.

Brand X Savior guitarist Kelly and vocalist Jason Fralish live at the Boardwalk

The first band to open the show was the always tight live show of Brand X Savior who brought their melodic, highly accessible heavy edged sound to the good on hand crowd at the outset of this night. Featuring drummer Ernie Womack, vocalist Jason Fralish, guitarist Kelly, and bassist Travis Story, Brand X Savior came off well to kick this show into motion, molding their metallic crunch guitar with the melody and memorable hook line lyrical content.

On stage, the band performed many of their trademark live staples including "Part of Me" which has a moody bass feel with guitar accents, the popular tune "The Real Thing" which drew quite a bit of audience participation as the band hit the hook-laden chrous line, and their traditional Michael Jackson cover of "Billie Jean".

Brand X Savior, above everything else, just come off really well live, due mostly to how well they are put together in terms of tightness and the cohesion of their combined sound. Fralish's vocal work is really what drives this band's overall accessibility as he winds those memorable lyrics well, sticking into the head against the backdrop of the guitars, bass and drums. As an added aggressive punch, Brand X Savior has the ability to drop the sound into more of a scream-it loud, chunk the guitars rhythm, but those sections usually are amplification tricks to their mid-tempo'd style. For the most part, this band is straight up contemporary heavy rock, driven straight to the mainstream with the verse-chorus-verse structure, but doing it so well that the total cohesive package is always impressive. A good opening set from a solid Sacramento band that continues to pull together more well structured material.

Skribble (left to right) guitarist / vocalist Matt Robbins, guitarist Kenny DiGiordano and vocalist Chris Richards live at the Boardwalk

On stage, the band pumped through most of their standard live staples as well as a few new tunes (including one highly impressive keyboard laden untitled tune). Their set consisted of "Deader" which featured the blood curdling scream from guest vocalist Jerry of PS ICO, "Locked" which works a quick chorus wrapped underneath the grating guitar work, and "Godmade" which has this well received build into the chorus line. The band also performed "S.W.K.Y." which works with a cool quick guitar riff rhythm, "Friends in Body Bags" which has a slower tempo (relatively speaking to the Skribble usual speed) that builds its way into the massive groove they use, and set closer, "Twinkle Twinkle" which is easily the band's most noticeable and popular tune.

Skribble has become one of the top flight bands in both the Sacramento area and beyond due to their increasing talent for song creation and the total live package they bring, with that sheer blinding speed of guitars and, most noticeably, vocal work that flies. What Skribble has done, and done well, is combine the trends and tendencies of today's popular heavy music landscape with their own unique brand of metal (most notably the vocals that work in this higher pitched range, both clean and scream / growl, which almost crack into total memorability) that just plains works, and works to the point where their stage show has become of the top spectacles in the region. With their morbid stage presence (complete with a smattering of demons, skulls and evil themed props) and their pure young attitude for the music, this band has taken their complete package and built themselves a well functioning machine that is rolling extremely well these days. Their music just moves so quick at times (rooted somewhat in the hardcore ethic, but with a heavy dose of metalcore thrown into the mix) that the entire landscape turns into this blinding light of sheer metal guitars, but guitar work that fits right into today's nationally recognized heavy scene. Provided they continue to pursue new material and stick together, this band really could have a shot at something much larger down the road.

Firepie guitarist B. Scott Clayton and vocalist Ken Mackrel live at the Boardwalk

On stage, the band wasted little time between tunes, jumping into each song on top the other, pulling tracks from their recently released new recording "Gravy Filled Monster", among others.

Using guitars that worked at that familiar hard rock, somewhat heavy strum (with a brief flirtation with punk styles coming to the surface) matched against the occasional horn and an overall accessible backdrop, Firepie, above all else, have this massive pile of talent from which to create their live show. Really, though, what set them off totally was Mackrel, as he has this deep, incredibly powerful voice that works in several ranges and hits each note in tune with the music behind him creating some nice notable hooks in each song. These guys certainly were not very heavy and having them sandwiched between the chaos intensity of Skribble and the massive Inruin set to follow was questionable, but they were still a pretty killer band in their own right, working the boogie rhythms and stapling themselves as a shiny, upbeat, "feel good" band.