Industry 6

The sleepy little bedroom community of Allen, Texas is home to a few surprising gems.

For example, the Zagat-surveyed Samui thai/fusion cuisine restaurant boasts a swanky décor and an upscale menu, nestled in a grocery store's strip mall. The best croissants in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex are made by french-born Jean-Christophe Blanc, who opened Voilà in this small town. And it's in the humble little Chili's franchise that you find Chris Adair, nimble drummer for Industry 6.

Industry 6? Yep. Traversing the roads between Allen and Garland and Mesquite and Ferris, six individuals have come together to form a progressive, metallic-tinged, and decidedly alternative rock sound that's unlike anything I've heard before.

Another gem.

It's against this wasteland of Texas suburbia that Industry 6 strums out edgy rocking sounds. Performing in local hotspots, battles of the band, and even for charity events, crowds sway and scream to the band's massive rhythm sections, hugely intense guitars, and morose vocals that, together, weave a musical tapestry brimming with emotion. I got my hands on their hard-to-get self-titled EP Industry 6—and I'm not letting go.

In the track "Hard to Swallow", keyboardist Tiffany Adair lifts listeners off their feet with ethereal sounds while rhythm guitarist Randy Forester and bassist Steven Brandon set the stage with a speedy beat. Solo sections show just how nimble their fingers are on those strings. Chris Adair's precise drumming leads off on "Benevolence" while Michael Angel's vocals lay out emotion in its pure, unrefined form. And then there's a nearly primal scream that reminds the listener just how intense he can be. No less than two separate mood changes in this track make it shine brilliantly—it's a voyage from woe to introspection to elation. "Anything" lets lead guitarist James Smylie shine. He strums like a demon on acid, as if channeling guitarists of the past into a rocking convocation. "Insignificant Others" rounds out the EP with more of Smylie's magic along with a head-banging structure framing the piece with genuine power.

If I had to find a flaw with Industry 6's EP, it'd be the mixing: it's a bit off, as Angel's vocals tend to become lost in the sea of fierce instrumentation. But that's all right: these guys are just at the start of their game.

I think they'll be playing it for quite some time to come.