"In January 2003, a band formed that would birth a new genre of music."

So begins the bio for Pittsburgh band Identity X, which releases its debut album, "Perception Is Reality," Saturday at Altar Bar.

New genres of music are pretty hard to come up with this late in the game, when the going consensus is that everything's been done. Identity X points to its combination of "rock, metal, jazz, blues and classical" as its X factor, setting the band apart from the pack.

"Our sound developed as the hard rock scene evolved," says guitarist Darin "D Napps" DiNapoli. "The music in our genre is a little more sophisticated today than the music that was popular in 2003. Current hard rock music has opened up the doors for bands to write more sophisticated compositions."

Identity X is a bit more complicated than most bands that would get played on The X, owing more to the busy arrangements of an Incubus or System of a Down. The sound is multilayered, with churning guitars, quick-changing time signatures and growling vocals and acrobatic ones from David Toole, who can jump octaves in an instant.

The ambitious lyrics match the high drama of the sound on songs such as "The Depth Perception," which DiNapoli says "is about focusing too closely on the trivial details of life -- money, work, politics, etc. -- and letting it distract us completely from our thoughts, time, relationships and everything in between."

The aggressive album opener, "Archetype," is based on a concept in Jungian psychology, DiNapoli says, "which describes the 'Archetype' as a subconscious creation of an individual's perfect soul mate. This archetype embodies everything the person wants in a partner and many times is the basis for choosing their relationships in real life. This song describes a situation where the Archetype is actually encountered in a dream. The subject sets out on a journey in hopes of reuniting with his Archetype in his dream."

Identity X had plenty of time, six years, to develop these sounds and concepts, as it took that long between the band's formation and its debut. Practical matters had a lot to do with it.

"Making a professional quality recording is very expensive," DiNapoli says. "We didn't have the funds back when we started because we were all broke college students. Our intention was to produce the best quality recording possible and it took a few years to save the money to fund this record."

There were, however, two EPs leading up to it and opening slots for bands such as Sevendust, Senses Fail and Story of the Year, not to mention a rather prestigious award. During his senior year at Robert Morris University, DiNapoli, Toole and a friend self-produced an "Archetype" music video.

"We took a course that required us to submit a professional quality production into a festival," he says. "I entered into the Academy of Television's Arts and Science Foundation's annual College Emmy awards and we took first place out of 80 entries in the music video category. They flew us out to L.A. for the red carpet event and the rest was history."

"Listen Up With Andrew Druckenbrod" and "The Beat With Scott Mervis" are available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.