KONSTRUKSHUN - Protected (Demo)

 

FACTORY

KONSTRUKSHUN

Protected (Demo)

            Kim, Cathy, JD, and I stand before the ominous, dark edifice which is the Haunted House attraction at the pier in Long Branch. Although the day all around us is sunny and bright, this building is like a black hole draining the light and life of its surroundings. I don’t remember the drive down here, or even what we did prior to this. The only thing I know is that this spooky ride seems to be drawing us towards it through an unseen force.

            It takes a Herculean effort to bring my body to a halt, but I manage to do so and turn my head upwards to gaze at the blacked-out windows of the second floor of the structure. I catch a glance of someone peeking out at me for a quick second before the window slams down and they are gone. The pale face I saw had an expression of pure terror and pain. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female, only that it had dark sunken eyes and its mouth was open as if to scream.

            A sudden giggle draws my attention back to my companions. Kim, Cathy and JD seem oblivious to the overwhelming sense of evil emanating from this place. They are all smiles and laughter as they wrap their arms around mine and drag me onwards to join the queue of people already gathered near the front entrance. My eyes shift to look at the front of the line and I see another disquieting sight.

            The door into the mansion is being guarded by an extremely tall and thin doorman. His spindly legs, pointy head, and sickly, jaundiced complexion give him an almost alien look. He is wearing an ill-fitting bicycle shirt with the words “Schwinn” printed across the chest and a pair of tight spandex shorts choking his nether regions. An odd costume, I think. Looking at his face I am taken back by the most predominant feature on it- his smile. His grin seems to cover most of his face, his thin lips stretch across it, from one tiny ear to the other. It is reminiscent of an ill alligator I saw once as a child at Gatorland Zoo in Florida. The memory makes me shiver in primal fear.

            The doorman has been letting in small groups of four or five people at a time, based on who they were with. The five people in front of us go in, and we are next in line. The tall weirdo looks at JD and says: “My! You are a tall one! I really like your hair. It has that shiny, sweaty look. You know, sweating is good for you.”

            JD, obviously uncomfortable, mumbles “Uh-huh” and turns to look back at us for some sort of assistance. But Cathy and Kim are lost in conversation, and I can only look back at him helplessly.

            “You know…” the doorman continues. “If you ever have to give a urine sample, you should always wash the cup first. Or else, it will be a dirty, bad sample. No good. No. No.”

            JD gulps loudly and before any of us can react, we are being ushered into the inky blackness of the antechamber. Once inside, we turn back to the shrinking sliver of light from the closing door. We hear the weirdo giggling and see the tips of his waving fingers before slamming the door shut.

            In the darkness, we begin to move forward. Our arms are outstretched, searching for any walls or turns ahead. My eyes, still not adjusted to lack of light, are practically blind. I feel Cathy reach for my arm, and I lower it to grasp her hand. I experience a fleeting sense of comfort from her warm grip, but as soon as it comes, that safe feeling is gone again. A noise becomes audible from a few feet away from us and it grows into a pulsating beat. The rhythmic sound mesmerizes me, while simultaneously filling me with a creeping terror.

            Something bad is coming.

            A grating voice from the darkness growls the word “Suffocation”. I grip Cathy’s hand tighter, but I notice it has grown cold…very cold. And her hand begins to painfully squeeze mine. I try to pull my hand away from hers, but I can’t escape her talon-like grip. I am stuck and overcome with panic.

            First, I scream, then I kick at whatever has a hold of me. But it is to no avail. The hand pulls me forward with incredible strength, my legs useless and trailing behind. I feel it pulling me downward, through a thin layer of web-like material. Suddenly, I let me go. I fall through the darkness and land on a wooden floor, my arms and legs akimbo, like some discarded puppet.

            The darkness of my new surroundings is soon dispelled by a dozen black candles come to blazing life, illuminating a wooden stage. The pulsing noise I heard earlier grows in intensity and I recognize the stage as the source of this frightful music. There are swirling clouds of chemical fog pouring off the stage, obscuring the ground upon which I lay. The noise begins to coalesce into actual music, shifting in and out of a melody hidden deep within the noise.

            I get to my feet and quickly realize I can see more of the stage. At the rear, I see the shadowy outlines of two shapely women. Their hips gyrate and sway as they march closer the edge of the stage. When the light of the candles illuminates their faces, I see they are two gorgeous succubi dressed in black. They reach the edge of the stage and begin to grind against each other to the throbbing beat of electronic drums. The distorted and hidden melody grows in to crescendo and then stops. The she-demons stop as well and stare down at me, baring their fangs in an evil sneer.

            I take a small step back. Suddenly there is a loud blast of noise and a blinding white light, and the demons are upon me. They grab my puny arms and pull me backwards back down the foggy floor. I try to scream, but one of them wraps a gnarled and clawed hand around my throat, cutting off any sound before I create it. All I can do is watch helplessly as three more figures materialize from the brightness of the stage and stand at various podiums. Their faces are obscured as the white light fades away and is replaced by various colored lights. These chromatic lights blink on and off in time to a harsh industrial dance groove.

            The succubus griping my throat leans in close. I feel her warm breath against my neck as she whispers one word into my ear- Suffocation.

            I awake, bathed in the secretions borne from my sweat glands. I struggle to breathe as I slowly realize I am not in peril. I am in my bed. In my room. Safe. I close my eyes and let out a sigh of relief. But I am seized by a sudden panic. I can still hear the pounding hell music! I sit up and look around, my fight or flight response about to kick in. Then I realize it is only in my tape deck. I remember I was listening to a demo tape by a new band named KONSTRUKSHUN.

            KONSTRUKSHUN (yes, always upper case) is a three-piece band out of Pottsville, PA. The group is made up of Nasaj Ontall on vocals, Tenek Dorle on keyboards, and Sur Talos on guitar. With such varied influences as Skinny Puppy, The Cure, and Eric Clapton, KONSTRUKSHUN purveys a new hybrid of dark, dance oriented industrial music. Formed in 1990, they have played several successful shows at clubs such as The Silo in Reading, The Roxy in New Brunswick, and Club Redrum (Dazzles) in Clifton. At their performances, they are accompanied by two gorgeous and talented dancers Kathy and Chris, who gyrate in ecstasy to the pounding groove.

            I saw them recently at the Roxy in New Brunswick and was blown away by their stage show and song setlist. They are a visual and crowd-pleasing spectacle that had the entire club dancing and calling out for more. They even did a badass cover of Madonna’s Justify My Love, that had us all chuckling and grooving along to it.  It was a spooky fun night, and it obviously had such an impact on me, that I had a nightmare about them.

            KONSTRUKSHUN has an eleven-track demo titled Protected. Protected has several darkly satisfying stand out tracks like “Suffocation”, “Committing Suicide”, “Pushing In Your Head”, and my favorite- “Thoughts That Count”. It is a demo which is worth tracking down if you are thirsty for a fresh, spooky, non-compromising sound with intelligent and thought-provoking lyrics. Anyone interested can order Protected by sending a check or money order for $6.00 to KONSTRUKSHUN c/o Jason Modesto PO Box 94 Seltzer, P.A. 17974. You won’t regret it.

            My only complain about the demo is that it doesn’t include their stirring rendition of “Justify My Love”. Well, I guess I will just wait for their major label debut when they get signed. That is, if Madonna doesn’t mind.