The band agreed to put the pieces back together and not even the unexpected suicide of drummer Bill Bumgardner in 2016 put paid to the notion.

When blackened sludge/doom quartet Indian ceased performing in 2014 after releasing its fifth and finest LP From All Purity, it left a hole in Chicago’s extreme metal scene. The band agreed to put the pieces back together, and not even the unexpected suicide of drummer Bill Bumgardner in 2016 put paid to the notion.

“Even before Billy killed himself, we were talking about doing it again,” explains guitarist Will Lindsay by phone from the Windy City. “Then everything happened with Billy, and a couple of months later, Ron [DeFries, bass] and I were out drinking one night. We were like, ‘Fuck, man, we don’t want Billy’s suicide to be the final note on the band.'”

“I talked to Dylan [O’Toole, guitar and vocals] and said, ‘I really feel like we have another album in us.’ Guess we’re gonna see. In the meantime, it’s really been fun playing those songs again.”

The plan is to start tracking this summer.

“We really wanna do a split with Primitive Man [death sludge band] before an LP, but we may just record it all at the same time,” says Lindsay. “I’m confident that the bands together will be a pretty volatile combination.”

Not that From All Purity won’t be a hard act to follow: “Out of all the music I’ve ever played in my life, that’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done, without a doubt,” affirms Lindsay. “I love that record. It far exceeded what I was expecting when we stepped into the studio.”

Indian

Empire Control Room, Sat. 8, 11:30pm

This article appears in June 7 • 2019.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.