For a while now I’ve been mourning the essential death of the Dallas music scene. A lot of my favorite clubs have closed down, and one by one, rock venues have disappeared to make room for dance clubs. As a result, the number of bands seems to have decreased, but also the quality of bands coming out of Dallas seems to have fallen dramatically. It wasn’t really a center of innovation before, but there was some good things to be found. Now, it seems like I can count on one hand how many local bands I actually enjoy.

All that said, any time that I go to a local dive and really enjoy the band, it’s something worth writing about. This weekend I saw Halcyon Nights, who might be the best band in Dallas. Thats a pretty bold claim, especially when considering that this group hasn’t been around for very long at all. But they, in a lot of ways, everything I want a rock band to be. Very heavy, yet melodic. Harmonically and rhythmically very complex, yet head-bangingly accessible. They’re like ‘Tool,’ but less riffy, and with much more intelligent harmony. I compare them most to “Oceansize,” but a little darker. In any case, if you like progressive rock, and you’re tired of 4/4 time, you may want to check ‘em out.

I think what made the show great for me was that there was finally a sound man that was able to mix them semi-decently. Their sound is unique, and their dense harmony calls for a careful approach to mixing that most club engineers just have clue how to do. For the first time I heard them a bit closer to how they were meant to be heard. Since they don’t have a record out yet, thats a big deal.

So, maybe there’s hope for Dallas music, although these guys will never see radio play (I don’t think they have any songs under 7 minutes) but thats just as well. They’re living up to the true definition of and Indie band.