Necro Construct

Necro Construct live at Genghis Con 2019

Necro Construct is a band that was a predecessor to the Necroverse. The band was originally started by Chris Martinez in 2011 under the name Mechthulhu. The lineup that was considered the "definitive lineup" that lead to the formation of the Necroverse consisted of Rivet D. Rivet, Xanthus, Andis, and Groe. Musically the band is is classified as Industrial Metal. In its ultimate form, the band described itself as "A spaceship for fighting eldritch threats to humanity, more commonly known for the exceptional in-flight entertainment provided to passengers by its crew."

## History

Necro Construct was founded in 2011 by Chris Martinez under the name Mechthulhu. The band was started while Martinez was still in Plasmacrash, and was originally intended to be an attempt to be the best combination of the heaviness and musical complexity of Metal with the danceability of industrial. While the band was started with an intentional focus on theatrics, the emphasis on specific characters and a unified storyline would come later in the band's history.

### Early History

The band started out under the name Mechthulhu, but the name turned out to be too difficult for fans and promoters to pronounce after the first couple of shows. The band later changed its name to Necro Construct. The band performed in robes designed to make the band look like cultists from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. The band members had stage names but had not created full characters with backstories behind them.

### Middle Period

The version of the band consisting of Chris Martinez, Cassandra Chirilla, and Milan Thompson, changed their aesthetic from mystical to more science fiction oriented and instead of wearing robes began dressing in more technologically influenced outfits. It is during this period that the band began incorporating their trademark lighting into their costumes. The lighting eventually became too much for the band to manage while onstage, and Paul Humphrey was brought on to act as lighting and stage manger, helping the band properly use and maintain the equipment during performances. Around this time the band also began working with the idea of a cohesive story and performing as characters with detailed backstories soon after. This was the period in which the ideas that would eventually result in the Necroverse were first formed.

### Ultimate Form

The band's ultimate form would take place after Chirilla left the band to pursue other musical projects. Martinez and Thompson met Ozan Young at a themed Industrial night at a local nightclub, where they began talking and quickly became friends. Young was a bass player and was extremely intrigued by the idea of the band, and was brought on as a member almost immediately. This period is when the band wrote most of their well-known material and fully fleshed out the backstories of the characters and larger universe. The band eventually had to retire after the work schedules of the various bandmembers made it so the band never had a mutually available period where they could regularly practice or plan shows, and the band members went their separate ways, later on forming other projects and eventually the Necroverse.

## Sound

Necro Construct in its ultimate form had a sound that was primarily focused on Industrial Metal with many orchestral elements and complex synthesizer lines. The band sometimes referred to the sound as "Industrial Power Metal" referencing similarities to power metal bands who used many orchestral elements in their sound.

Vocally the band was focused on complex vocal parts with no individual bandmember having the role of lead singer. Each band member had songs and parts where they were the main vocalist, as well as most songs containing parts with complex vocal harmonies. The band would even abandon instruments for some songs, focusing solely on vocals sung over the backing tracks. These songs led to the band sometimes being jokingly referred to as an "Industrial Boy Band".

## Characters/Bandmembers

Necro Construct existed in the Necroverse as a spaceship designed to fight eldritch threats to humanity such as the Great Old Ones. The bandmembers took on various roles within the spaceship crew. Older iterations of the band did not focus on the complex backstory, so the band members had stage names, but not specific characters or roles within the story.

Captain Rivet D. Rivet was captain of the Alien Space Vessel Necro Construct and was portrayed by Chris Martinez, who played guitar and vocals. During the period where Andis was captain, Rivet served as Master Gunner but this did not affect any instruments played.

Xanthus 3.0 was the ship's Technomancer and was portrayed by Milan Thompson, who played keys/synths and vocals.

Andis Vreth was the ship's navigator, and was portrayed by Ozan Young, who played bass and vocals. There was also a brief period in which he took over as the ship's captain.

Groe was the Assistant Technomancer and was portrayed by Paul Humphrey, who was the band's lighting and stage manager. While he did not play an instrument, Humphrey was considered a full bandmember as he worked on the band's production on and off stage the entire time in the Groe costume during shows and attended band practices to work on lighting and other stage elements.

### Former Bandmembers

Kulten was the ship's pilot, and was portrayed by Cassandra Chirilla, who played drums. Chirilla was the only former bandmember to portray an actual character and not just use a stage name that wasn't tied to a specific character. Chirilla was also the first person to join the band after its founding. Kulten was thought to be one of the Mountain People, but upon the character's death, it was learned that Kulten was actually an organized cluster of nanobots posing as a human.

Code Red was the stage name of Cody Truesdale who played lead guitar in an older version of the band.

The Saint was the stage name of Scott St. Ammand who played bass and vocals in an older version of the band.