From the '80s to the 2000s, the death metal/black metal/grindcore field has been very male-dominated. There are plenty of women playing various forms of metal and heavy rock, but the vast majority of death metal bands -- probably about 98 percent -- have been entirely male. And this trend has nothing to do with sexism; as a rule, female musicians have simply been drawn to other types of metal. So it was a historic moment when female bassist Leslie Keeble joined the Alabama-based death metal combo
Spinecast, who had gone through quite a few bass players before hiring Keeble in the early 2000s. On 2002's
Go Forth and Mutilate,
Spinecast has a three-person lineup consisting of Keeble, Zac "Kron O'Neal" Kerr (vocals, guitar), and Lance Wright (drums). In various interviews,
Spinecast's male members joked about Keeble being the "hottie" of the band; but all kidding aside, they were glad to have her on board because she isn't lacking in the chops department and is proficient with the five-string fretless model.
Go Forth and Mutilate finds
Spinecast trying to bring some variety to death metal; there are a fair amount of tempo changes, and they don't play at breakneck speed 100 percent of the time. Nonetheless, the CD has its limitations. Kerr's choked, tortured, larynx-shredding vocals render the lyrics hard to understand (unless you refer to the lyric sheet), and despite the tempo changes,
Spinecast becomes fairly predictable after a few tracks. But
Go Forth and Mutilate can be exhilarating if you have a taste for this type of sensory assault -- and the fact that Keeble brings some technical proficiency to the table certainly doesn't hurt. Keeble has since left
Spinecast (which can be quite a revolving door), but her participation gives some historic value to this decent, if limited, effort. ~ Alex Henderson