Spinecast

The adjectives that are usually applied to death metal, black metal and grindcore artists--blistering, ferocious, brutal, bonecrushing, merciless, unforgiving--easily describe the music of Spinecast, a death metal/black metal unit that was formed in Huntsville, AL in early 1998. Known for a take-no-prisoners approach, Spinecast has favored the usual death metal/black metal elements: a lot of fast tempos (although they don't play at lightning speed all the time), Occult-minded lyrics, and a choked, demonic-sounding, larynx-shredding vocal style. Spinecast, like a lot of bands in the death metal/black metal underground, has been through more than their share of lineup changes. The original 1998 lineup included founder Zac Kerr, a.k.a. Kron O'Neal, on lead vocals and guitar and Cameron Pinkerton on drums; Pinkerton (who is also a guitarist) subsequently left the band and was replaced by Lance Wright. Spinecast went through numerous bassists in the late ‘90s--including Garth Lovvorn, best known for playing with the death metal band Fleshtized--before hiring female bassist Leslie Keeble in 2000, and her association with Spinecast was historic because death metal and black metal have been very male-dominated. Although female artists haven't been hard to find in other areas of metal and heavy rock (alternative metal, for example), the vast majority of death metal/black metal outfits have been totally male. Spinecast started recording in 1998, when they provided a three-song demo cassette called Nightmares Of Depravity; Kerr has since become very critical of that demo, insisting that it "wasn't brutal enough." Nightmares Of Depravity was followed by 1999's Disease of Worthlessness, the band's first full-length album. Spinecast's next album, Go Forth and Mutilate, was released...