Magic Sword, Skylimit, Crossbreaker - 9/17/26 - Fresno, CA - Strummer's

Crossbreaker was up first, and I’m not sure what flavor of metal music they play, but I’m going to guess it’s death metal. Or maybe thrash metal. Possibly hardcore metal? I’m not really sure, but it’s definitely metal. I appreciate metal, and the musicianship that’s required to play it. It’s just not pleasing to my ear. They play fast and they’ve got the weird chord shapes and there’s a good mosh pit for the crowd size, but it just doesn’t sound good to me. But, if you do like metal, you’d probably love them. 

Sky Limit, a one man show singing and alternatively playing keys, a synth, or a keytar over prerecorded drum beats, was up next. Who knows if he actually came up with the beats himself, but I’m going to choose to believe he did. He’s got a good voice too. 

He mostly played upbeat, happy synthy melodies. But partway through the show the drummer from Magic Sword joined him and they combined for a heavier, more industrial sound. And then it was right back to happy music and positive vibes on stage. 

Magic Sword was the main attraction, and they did not disappoint. It's the music of old school video games. Lots of synths and guitar solos with dancy drums. It’s the music of boss fights and high speed races and close escapes and epic journeys and overcoming all odds and the hero succeeding. It’s triumph and glory. If you ever sat as a kid and let the level play in the background just to listen to the soundtrack loop, this is the band for you. 

Their costumes and stage antics match the vibes of the music. Each member of the trio is in a hooded black robe with a visor over their face and a strip of lights where the eye slot would be, with a different color for each member. The drummer has orange, the synths/keys has red, and the guitarist is blue. Between them all is the Magic Sword itself, a prop sword that lights up blue, which the keyboardist would raise above his head at various times as it was a sacred artifact.

They further leaned into the gimmick with a narrated story to open the show, and twice more during the show, that provided a background story for the purpose of the band and the sword. Which, of course, is to defeat the forces of evil. There may have been an overarching story being told but I didn’t pay enough attention to say for sure. 

As Josh the bartender said, a gimmick is always fun, and it’s even better when the band is good. And this band is good. The drummer’s rhythms are danceable and epic. The synth player adds pleasing, repeating melodies. The star of the show though is the guitar player who shreds. 

This was the second time I've seen them, and I'll be back whenever they come back to Fresno. It's fun. It's nostalgic. And like Josh said, it's not just a gimmick, it's a really good band playing really good music.