Photo by Tom van Huisstede
When your band name goes as hard as Iguana Death Cult you’d better damn well have the chops to back it up. Fortunately, this Dutch five-piece undoubtedly packs the muscle required, delivering potent guitar-forward manifestos bursting with angular attitude and a dash of casual nihilism that quickly enraptured audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Like their cold-blooded namesakes Iguana Death Cult have spent the pandemic years in a sort of hibernation, stirring once again as the clouds of uncertainty begin to part and reinvigorated with a fresh sense of purpose and the opening salvos of a new LP on the horizon. Ramping up towards the release of their forthcoming album, Echo Palace, Iguana Death Cult have unleashed a steady torrent of singles that are already positioning the album as one of this year’s most exciting. The latest single, “Oh No,” continues to reinforce these early impressions by delivering a raucous indictment of two-dimensional posturing at the expense of true substance of being.
Propelled forward with a manic sense of momentum, “Oh No” immediately establishes its presence with a blitzkrieg combination of thick, rubbery basslines that bounce around with cyclic impunity amidst a tempest of skittering percussion and bursts of nervous new wave guitar. Expertly merging the jagged, angry post-punk of Gang Of Four with the twitchy modern psych-punk of bands like Flat Worms and Oh Sees, Iguana Death Cult have developed a heady recipe for maximum impact rock n roll and “Oh No” is a sterling example of a band absolutely firing on all cylinders. Deadpan verses, gang-vocal shout-along choruses, and the full stop hook make the track feel like a true team effort, a collective expression of a singularity of perspective, inviting the listener in on a secret underground meeting of cultural disruptors planning their next attack on the status quo.
Iguana Death Cult take no prisoners decrying the deterioration of authenticity and the encroachment of a prevailing plasticity. From the bastard vigilante to the pretentious record collector, self-righteous gatekeepers from all sides of the spectrum have cheapened the integrity of the ideals they choose to uphold through a perversion of misinterpretation, ensconcing a self-curated collection of cultural values behind illusory, impenetrable jackets of Kevlar and cellophane. Iguana Death Cult long for a return to ascertaining “the measure of a man by the way he shakes your hand, barbaric now it’s rendered obsolete” but refuse to recede into a rose-tinted over-simplification of perceived good old days, instead lamenting the fact that we have seemingly traded authenticity in favor of mass-produced junk-food outrage deposited into our laps with the greasy convenience of a suburban drive-thru. Engineered antagonism erodes the foundation of society like an ever-rising tide of acidic sludge, legitimized by the construction of rules and regulations designed to divide and Iguana Death Cult “can’t be bothered with your empty legislation,” proceeding to live by their own ideals and shrugging off shouting heads with a sarcastic “oh no.”
Midway through the track “Oh No” trades it’s meaty guitar solos for a punky outburst of punctuated saxophone, leveraging the instrument’s unique versatility to segue into an extended cool jazz outro where the sax takes center stage. With the rolling boil reduced to an easy simmer, Iguana Death Cult transforms into a quintet of lounge lizards, beat poets for a generation that understands the impact of nuance and seeks to champion the value of honesty.
Echo Palace releases May 12th via Innovative Leisure. Pre-save and pre-order the album here. Follow Iguana Death Cult on Instagram.
Upcoming Shows
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Apr 28 – Rough Trade Bristol – Bristol, UK
Apr 29 – Moth Club – London, UK
Apr 30 – The Hope and Ruin – Brighton, UK
May 06 – Rotown – Rotterdam, Netherlands
May 12 – Effenaar – Eindhoven, Netherlands
May 12 – Merleyn – Nijmegen, Netherlands
May 19 – Pier15 – Breda, Netherlands
May 20 – EKKO – Utrecht, Netherlands
May 26 – VERA – Groningen, Netherlands
May 27 – Skatecafe – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jun 10 – TRIX – Antwerp, Belgium
