Immortal Bird Credit: Margaret Lord

You won’t find many tighter showcases of Chicago underground metal bands than tonight’s bill, headlined by the reclusive Indian, who’ve emerged from hibernation to blast the Empty Bottle with their raw, nihilistic doom (in advance of two festival dates). Indian play so rarely these days that their presence alone makes this show a can’t-miss occasion, but tonight (and at Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle) they’ll get a run for their money from sludgy, crusty up-and-comers Immortal Bird. Four years in the making, the band’s second album, Thrive on Neglect (out in July on 20 Buck Spin), is a great leap forward from its impressive predecessor, 2015’s Empress/Abscess. Immortal Bird navigate a variety of subgenres with battering beats, wasp-swarm guitars, and vicious audacity. The swampy breakdown in “Vestigial Warnings” and the beautiful angular motif of “Avolition” are just a few moments that suggest perfection is within the group’s reach. On the staggeringly dense “Anger Breeds Contempt,” producer Dave Otero keeps every element in the arrangement filthy yet audible beneath the roar of vocalist Rae Amitay (who’s also the drummer in Thrawsunblat). Rounding out tonight’s bill are Bloodiest, one of the greatest—if not only—experimental-metal roundtables in the city.   v