Even the name of the band - Soul Casket - sounds ominous. And the guitarist is potentially scary.

His name is simply Skratte.

The 27-year-old huddles on a bar stool, cloaked in a black T-shirt, a droopy black sweat shirt and jeans. For a passing moment, his eyebrow ring glints from beneath a lowered baseball cap. His feet are enveloped by serious Doc Martens with a thick sole that could crush kittens.

A machine churns to life in the Factory, a Fairfield bar, and fills the shadowy venue with white noise.

Skratte arranged this meeting because he had something important to discuss.

Namely, a 3-year-old Batavia girl battling leukemia.

Skratte is one of the main organizers of Metal for Medicine, a benefit show that will feature 10 Cincinnati metal bands. The 18-and-over show will be 5 p.m. April 17 at Never on Sunday in Silverton.

All cover charges ($5) and raffle proceeds will go to Jessica Wiggins, who suffers acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The fund-raiser was the idea of Eva Wheeldon, 23, who works at the Home Depot in Lebanon with the little girl's uncle.

Six months ago, when Wheeldon heard the child had been diagnosed with the disease, she immediately set to work planning an auction.

After an auctioneer dropped out and the auction house followed suit, Wheeldon was without a fund-raiser.

Then an amazing thing happened.

Wheeldon, whose husband is in the band Transmission, asked local musicians to help.

Groups like Pain Link, Crowning Apathy and Kill the Messenger came to the rescue. Several other bands agreed to play for free.

"I've gotten a lot more help from the metal scene than I have from many businesses and corporations," Wheeldon says.

Then Wheeldon met Soul Casket - and Skratte, who spread word of the benefit through the metal community, via friends and CincyMetal.com.

Metalheads as far away as Canada started making donations and getting involved.

Sudsy Malone's (2626 Vine St., Corryville) also got on board. Tonight the bar will offer up proceeds from an Ozzy Osbourne tribute for Jessica's medical treatments.

All this, for a little tyke they've never met.

Frankly, many wouldn't expect this from the metal community, made up of genres like thrash metal, death metal, speed metal and power metal.

"You expect jerks. All kinds of macho men all wearing black," Wheeldon says. "It's the last place I ever expected to get the help I received .

"But what I did receive went way beyond what I ever imagined."

But times are different now within the community, says Skratte, who has played in local bands on and off for the past decade.

"Ten years ago, everything was a big competition in the metal scene," he says. "Now it just seems like a little brotherhood with all the bands."

Skratte hopes to expand the philanthropy. He's planning similar benefits every other month for a variety of causes.

"I've always been the kind of person who will try to help out if I can," he says.

Just goes to show that a heart shrouded in black clothing can still beat gold.

For information about the Jessica Wiggins benefit or to make donations through PayPal, an online payment service, visit Web site.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com