♫♪  Shadows - KnightsEnd

I’m totally a fair-weather Batman fan. We’ve seen how it can be done right, and we’ve seen how it can be done wrong, and we’ve seen really really right and really really really right. And really wrong. And really really really wrong. Dang, there’s been lots of Batmans throughout our illustrious human history.

Shadows (Wyatt Howland/Skin Graft and David Russell/Collapsed Arc) is taking a crack at the myth, the legend, the Dark Friggin’ Knight for Polar Envy, lending their “hellucinations” (OMG, nailed it!) to the narrative and spinning it off like a ricocheting Batarang into pitch-black recesses of the imagination. Like, they went real dark here — one only has to take a look at the DC Comics cover on the j-card and the gray, masked Hulk pounding Batman’s face to get the gist of what Howland and Russell are up to. (This isn’t a Hulk crossover event, is it. I admit, I have no idea — I do believe I warned you about the fair-weatherness of my fandom.)

But bad news for Bruce Wayne is good news (sometimes, depends on the day) for this shoulder-shrugging Batman half-fan. I mean, the movies with the Joker are always the best ones, the ones that always take a deep dive into the psyche behind the villain. Well, KnightsEnd is all villainous psyche, the world finally getting the best of the masked vigilante as he hangs helpless in the grip of his nemesis, bats like carrion flitting in the background of the scene. Each side of this tape is a nightmarish grind, Shadows’ noisy industrial sound sculptures a reflection of the turmoil, both inner and outer, of the world of Gotham. You may find yourself reaching for can of shark repellent on your belt, but it won’t do you any good the in the face of real, imminent danger.


Chocolate Grinder

CHOCOLATE GRINDER is our audio/visual section, with an emphasis on the lesser heard and lesser known. We aim to dig deep, but we’ll post any song or video we find interesting, big or small.

Most Read



Etc.