CLUB REVIEW : You Can Dance the Pain Away at Kontrol Faktory

Not until you peer out on Kontrol Faktory’s dance floor, where pierced and tattooed bodies slowly contort in sync to heavy, heavy industrial music, does it become clear why this 5-year-old Hollywood dance club continues to thrive.

For its members, who line up every Monday night outside the Probe--Kontrol Faktory’s home base for the past three years--it’s an expressive outlet for a culture in pain. Here, at least, the pain seems real. Most of the people who attend this weekly ritual have mutilated themselves, mainly by piercing or body scarring. Kontrol Faktory’s denizens share a dark spirit that appears to be exorcised on the dance floor.

Early in the night, the industrial music tends to be obscure, a weave of European and American sounds that pounds from every speaker in slow, concrete beats. The dancers bring a startling elegance and purpose to the cacophony. A form of improvised “shadow dancing”--an expressive dance that evolved out of the gothic-rock scene--it’s as controlled and structured as the music.

Equally interesting is the desire to dance alone. Many of the cavernous club’s customers find a spot on the dance floor and occupy it for hours. The later it gets, the more recognizable the music becomes--such artists as Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM and the Revolting Cocks dominate. Like the music, the dancing get more frenzied, and by night’s end the scene no longer feels strange to novices. It feels kind of good.

* Kontrol Faktory on Mondays at the Probe, 836 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. 18 and over, $5 ($4 for club members). (818) 303-4634.

* Club Buzz: Here’s one way to attract special police attention: Flyers for a Jan. 16 performance at the Roxy by the group Idiot Stare read, “Industrial madness at midnight. Bring your drugs, body, and toilet paper. . . . Forget your mind.” . . . The once-great Club Lingerie, which closed last year, currently is the site of a “Korean discotheque,” according to new management. . . . Jac Zinder, the impresario of Fuzzyland and other visionary clubs, was killed in a 1994 auto accident, but he’ll be heard from again--on record. Zinder was also a musician and composer, and an album of his music, titled “Chairs I Have Known,” will be released by Catasonic Records on Feb. 27.

* Roxy (310) 278-9457. Club Lingerie (213) 466-8557.