Conspiracy purists

Upon entering Tower Records for The Kunst Conspiracy show, I was warned to walk fast from dangerous characters lurking inside. Maybe it was my pink T-shirt and Mary Jane flats that gave away the fact I’m not a regular at metal shows.

The crowd was full of goths, hippies and metal-heads, young and old, though none of them ended up being particularly vicious.

Before hitting the stage, Kunst Conspiracy bassist Forester Savage warmed up by moshing during the opening performance by Maelstrome, a five-piece metal band from Susanville that also engaged in some hair whipping. The band members sported black T-shirts and shaggy hair, with the exception of drummer Jeremy Arnold, who had a buzz cut and looked the least metal of the band. What was most surprising about Maelstrome was that such deep disturbing screams and growls could come from someone as innocuous looking as vocalist Zac Lawrence. The band definitely matched well with the headliners.

The Kunst Conspiracy is the only industrial band in Chico but seems to be pushing the boundaries of the genre to create a sound all its own. The group (which used to go simply by Kunst, meaning “art” in German) played under the fluorescent lights for a crowd of about 50 people to promote the release of its new album, Machination, which was released independently after the band parted ways with Killing Jar Records.

The conspirators definitely had a look all their own.

The stage décor featured a bloodied dead baby figurine with red flashing eyes, a demonic grin and missing chunks of flesh bopping from side to side next to rounds of ammunition draped over a speaker.

The dead-baby dolls belong to Savage, who along with drummer Mitch Mitchell and keyboardist Sven is new to The Kunst Conspiracy. Mitchell, who the band decided was the man for the job after meeting him in Kansas, only had a couple of months to learn the material. But he never missed a beat and fit right in with the band’s stage theatrics, rolling his eyes back in his head and shaking his head while he played. While Mitchell and Sven performed from the stage, singer/guitarist NiL, guitarist The Manimal and Forester swapped sweat with the crowd and each other on the floor.

The doom and gloom was a bit intense at times with lyrics like, “I wanna kill everyone with my loaded gun / I wanna burn my world to the ground.” But the members of the band were very skilled technically and contributed an interesting element to the industrial machine.

Sven used the synthesizer both to create sound effects and to perform several ethereal, dream-like solos that provided a nice lull from the power of the band’s industrial metal sound.

But The Kunst Conspiracy briefly showed its lighter side when the band jumped into ditties like KC and JoJo’s “All My Life,” upon request from an audience member, while NiL replaced a guitar string.

And although only half of the audience stuck around for the entire show, the loyal fans seemed to really get into the performance.

More mellow observers stepped back and the floor opened up as bodies bounced off each other. At one point, a table was nearly toppled by an overzealous shove, but for the most part the pit never got too rough or lasted for more than a minute at a time. As the chorus of the final song, “Flavored Shit,” hit the fan, audience members continued the chant “Shit,” begging for an encore, which they were denied.

NiL proved himself to be a fairly destructive force—in addition to breaking a string, he likely did some damage to his eardrums, as a post-show conversation seemed futile.