Clanging Metal on H Street: Nihilitia and Salome

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WHEN THE Red and the Black opened three years ago, it was supposed to play the alt-country-ish kid sister to the indie-rockin' DC9 and self-descriptive Rock and Roll Hotel.

How times have changed.

Now all three clubs offer some of the best underground music acts from all genres.

In fact, the R&B's third birthday bash features artists miles away from singer-songwriterdom; it includes area metalheads Nihilitia (D.C.) and Salome (NoVa), which crush from the psychedelic-sludge side of things; Baltimore's Isthmus adds prog to its headbangers; and Three Faces of Eve (NoVa) will grind multi-personality disorders down to one blown mind. (Pittsburgh's Hero Destroyed, the one national act on this otherwise locals-only party, is a band of progressive-metal punks whose self-titled Relapse debut recalls Mastodon.)

Nihilitia's seven-song debut, "Nihilist Militia," is "stonerglam," which makes sense when you see the bands the group cites as influences: Jesus Lizard, Queen, Darkest Hour, Rainbow, etc. Bassist/singer/law-school grad Sara Hussain rumbles around her ax while screaming very nonjudicial things, as drummer Brad Sheppard pounds his skins like a bully and guitarist Chris Thomas riffs through the late '80s/early '90s Touch & Go discography.

Salome also has a recent epic debut, but its self-titled work has more of a blackened-soul vibe — a hugely doomy sound that recalls midnight on a country road to hell.

That's a much better way to celebrate three years of the Red and the Black than an acoustic-guitar slinger bemoaning life on a bar stool.

» The Red and the Black, 1212 H St. NE; Sat., June 20, 8 p.m., $8; 202-399-3831.

Photo courtesy Shervin Lainez