Inphobic

The area is packed with new-metal upstarts and traditional '80s-style shriekers, but the straightforward hard-rock category remains underpopulated. Doing its part to correct this oversight is the Kansas City, Kan.-based trio Inphobic, whose three-song demo shows band members' Motorhead and early-Metallica influences on the sleeves of their black concert T-shirts. After opening with the high-octane "Dragon's Holiday," a speedy tune that proves drummer Jake Good more than capable of living up to his surname, Inphobic shows its range by offering the choppy, midpace "What I Wouldn't Give" and the comparably calm closer "Eclipse's Wings." Vocalist-guitarist Daniel Duncan evades metal-singer stereotypes, never hitting a sour high note or stepping into an ill-fitting psychotic persona. Instead, he belts out his lines in a crisp voice, with the occasional shout during the choruses. Hopefully, Inphobic is not also claustrophobic, because this group should be packing the house at Niener's within a matter of months.