Try it before you bash it.

That's what the ruthless and menacing lead singer of a death/thrash metal band said.

She doesn't mean listen to metal. She means listen to a female-fronted metal band.

Alxs (pronounced Alexis) Ness is Without Mercy's frontman, so to speak.

Without Mercy is on their Devolution Tour and will be heading up a 13-band metal festival at the Roll-A-Dome Friday as a tribute to Anthony Chalise Redpath Rossetti a.k.a. Ace who died in a car crash on Canada Day last year.

This is the second annual Hell Mend Ya festival held in Ace's honour and is also a fundraiser for the Ace of Arts Educational Society that will go to local artists.

"It's still pretty rare to see a female-fronted death metal band," said Ness. "But there are some out there. Some people come to the show and say I didn't even know a female voice could do that. "

This isn't just a man thing, Ness added.

"You don't have to have an Adam's apple to produce an aggressive, angry kind of sound on stage," Ness said.

Ness grew up listening to Janice Joplin and James Brown.

"If you listen to them they have a lot of screaming in their vocals," she added. "It's one of those things that's over looked but it's not the focal point of their music."

Ness came to front Without Mercy by a fluke, she said. She met the band's now guitarist DJ Temple in a Value Village and he told her he needed a vocalist.

"He said can you scream and I said sure -- never having done it in my life," said Ness. "Then it just took years and years of practice after that. "

It was horrible at first for Ness, who said she often tasted blood. Since then she's learned how to protect her throat.

"Now I'm on the right track," she added.

Without Mercy's latest self-titled album is a six-string album and their new album is written for seven-string guitars that offers a lower-end sound. There's no release date yet on that album. The band is focusing on touring right now.

"There will be lots of aggression and lots of energy on stage," Ness said. "It's more enjoyable for us and the crowd and they better be ready to move their asses!"

Ness said it's an honour to be a part of the tribute to Ace, who was such a metal head.

"I didn't know him personally but I know this is something he would have loved," said Ness. "That's why it was started in the first place and it's pretty exciting to be able to contribute to that."

Appearing during the festival along with Without Mercy is Vale of Hinnom, Aethyrean , We the Martyr, Seraphic Nihilist, Remove the Doubt, Before the Burial, Primal Stance, Crucible of, Scorn, In the Midst of a Murder, Damned Before Birth and AutoIntoxication.

The show starts at noon Friday at the Roll-A-Dome, 2588 Recreation Place. Cost is $10 for all ages.