Twilight Of The Mortals by Mont Sherar - review

Boxed volume of Killing Joke at work, rest and play

Cover art for Twilight Of The Mortals by Mont Sherar

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If you’re going to embark upon a near decadelong quest to deliver a ‘photographic portrayal’ of a band, you’d better make sure that your subjects are characterful and compelling. Luckily, Canadian photographer Mont Sherar chose the gentlemen of Killing Joke. Collectively eternally enigmatic, charismatic, monolithic juggernauts of apocalyptic postpunk and individually four, brooding, totemic visionaries who’ve not only operated behind a captivating veil of mystery and majick for the last four decades, but who also boast well-chiselled, weather-hewn chops that lend themselves extremely well to moody black and white.

Twilight Of The Mortals doesn’t waste its opportunity, with rare glimpses on, off and behind the stage. The accompanying text’s tendency toward mock-heroism is often superfluous here, with the photographic studies telling the story more succinctly than words ever could. In fact, a single shot of Geordie Walker’s 1952 golden-cello Gibson ES-295 says more about the transcendent majesty of rock than an entire U2 gallery show.

Ian Fortnam

Classic Rock’s Reviews Editor for the last 20 years, Ian stapled his first fanzine in 1977. Since misspending his youth by way of ‘research’ his work has also appeared in such publications as Metal Hammer, Prog, NME, Uncut, Kerrang!, VOX, The Face, The Guardian, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Electronic Sound, Record Collector and across the internet. Permanently buried under mountains of recorded media, ears ringing from a lifetime of gigs, he enjoys nothing more than recreationally throttling a guitar and following a baptism of punk fire has played in bands for 45 years, releasing recordings via Esoteric Antenna and Cleopatra Records.