_{By Jeremy Thacker}

I have a serious bone to pick with the bands that played at the last preliminary night of The Boardwalk’s Spring 2025 Battle of the Bands. I have a lot going on this weekend, and now I won’t be able to accomplish any of my original plans thanks to these guys melting my face off. How am I supposed to run errands without a face? For shame guys. For shame. In all seriousness, this was one of the best nights I’ve seen from any BotB and I’ve become a huge fan of all four bands that performed.

The Skolars

The Skolarz kicked things off with a reverb-heavy pop rock vibe that felt super promising, even if they were a little stiff out of the gate. They started off a bit timid, but by the end of the set, they were loosening up and showing off some real potential. One of the other judges told me this lineup has only been playing together for around two weeks, so they were still getting used to playing together.

My favorite thing about their set was the songwriting on display. Pop rock tends to be very formulaic, but they excelled at subverting my expectations with powerful riffs and breakdowns. Their second song in particular had one of my favorite breakdowns of the night where each musician had the chance to solo and show off their skills. 

The talent here is clear, and once they get a bit more time together and tighten things up, I could definitely see The Skolarz becoming a regular name on the local scene. And considering the size of the crowd they pulled, it’s very likely that will happen sooner rather than later.

Valhalla

I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the tonal shift going from The Skolarz to Valhalla. The second they started we were hit with a wall of distorted, chuggy tones that had my fellow judges and I reeling for their entire twenty minute set.

Valhalla’s sound leans into emo rock with some obvious metalcore influence. They’re a band that would fit right in at classic Warped Tour or When We Were Young fest. They were a blast to watch if you’re into that heavier sound. Their energy started at a 10 and didn’t dip once during the entire set, with cool moments like the guitarist and bassist hopping off the stage and playing on the floor in the middle of the crowd.

My only worry with Valhalla is that the vocalist might not be able to keep that up forever — those kinds of vocals can really mess up your throat if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. But for now? They brought the energy and delivered a non-stop wall of sound that hit hard and didn’t let up.

Treeson

Treeson call themselves “eco grunge.” They play for the trees, son! I’ll admit to being worried about the band being able to maintain the high energy and momentum of Valhalla, but the guys in Treeson not only matched it, they channeled it into their music and played an amazing set. They were grungy, but with cleaner, tighter production and a really nice balance in their sound.

What set them apart was how together they sounded. Everything was super dialed in—from the tones to the transitions to the energy. They kept the distortion from earlier acts like Valhalla but made it a lot more focused and dynamic. Also, they just dropped a new EP today, and were even handing out free CDs so if you liked what you heard, you could go straight home and listen to more. It was a great move, and this is definitely a band to keep an eye on.

UltraVatic

UltraVatic describe themselves as “atonal dance noise electronic rock.” Confused about what that means? Essentially, the group pairs noise (think industrial machinery and broken synthesizers) with dissonance from their instruments to create one of the most unique sounds I’ve ever heard. It’s something that on paper should not work at all, but in practice was frickin’ awesome.

It’s hard to describe their set as I’m really not aware of any similar bands. Imagine if an industrial factory caught on fire and instead of putting the fire out people decided to throw a rave in the burning factory instead. It’s a niche that I didn’t even know I needed and yet could not get enough of.

They did have a couple of hiccups during their set where the backing tracks could drown out their instruments and melodies, rather than supporting it. It didn’t happen often, but enough that all three judges noticed it. That said, they still put together a really fun set and their creativity deserves to be applauded. If you have the chance to see UltraVatic live I highly recommend it. Their Spotify recordings don’t do justice to the weird, creative chaos of their music.

Results

As the judges went upstairs to deliberate, it became apparent that this was going to be an extremely close night. Every band that performed had showcased something unique and I honestly could have seen any one of them going on to finals night. Even the crowd vote had a tie. But after deliberation a verdict was reached and UltraVatic were declared the winners!

You can catch UltraVatic and experience their weird chaos for yourself at finals TONIGHT Saturday, May 10. Be sure to follow them on Instagram too!

The Boardwalk’s Spring 2025 Battle of the Bands concludes tonight with finalists Calling Card, Coastal City, Teddy P, and UltraVatic. Doors open at 6:30 PM. In the meantime, check out “203X” from UltraVatic!

_{New to Provo Music Magazine? See also: Inside PMM’s Battle of the Bands Coverage}