Iguana Death Cult - Future Monuments
Number four in our top five new releases is Iguana Death Cult. They are a five piece band - originally a four - from a small town In the Netherlands: three musicians catalysed through the connection of a singer/guitarist uprooted in 2015 and went to Rotterdam. Quickly making a name for themselves their first full release came in 2017 - The First Stirrings of Hideous Insect Life. They impressed label Innovative Leisure and signed with a new album - Nude Casino - released in October 2019.
With a distinctively danceable amalgum of many energies and genres, their style has changed slightly over the years, moving away from psychedelic-surf-punk to a more danceable - almost pop - beat, without losing angst or energy. The addition of a keyboard player makes all the difference to them and to this, Liminal Radio's number four of the best tracks of the year.
Future Monuments has a fast driving - bass-guitar driven - alternative dance feel about it, like a Frans-Ferdinand/Django Django crossover. Add vocals that bring a throwback to the eighties (think Orange Juice meets Paul Haig) then build a crescendo of haunting analogue Tubeway-Army-esque keyboards to a populistic-chant and you end up with a track and a half!
Iguana Death Cult began as a quartet, brought together by guitarist and singer Jeroen Reek. Growing up in Willemstad, Netherlands he found accomplished musicians who hadn't previously known each other. He forged a band of immense talent with Justin Boer, himself a renowned guitarist encouraged to play bass; this perhaps is one of the keys to their unique and engaging style? Tobias Opschoor is on guitar and Arjen Van Opstal, drums. It was only later that the band were joined by keyboard player Jimmy de Kock, which clearly takes this track to another level.
The band describe the song: "Future Monuments deals with the question who the heroes of our future will be and how fast their statues will get torn down again. In a world as polarized as this, it’s pretty hard to tell I think. There are a lot of false, yet persuasive messiahs out there preaching their way into the minds of people that are looking for answers, for something to hold on to in this confusing day and age. It’s hard to not fall prey to these charlatans, to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to picking our leaders. This worries us. We made the song sound big and heroic so it feels like a proper epos”
Live, apparently they have to be seen to be believed, bringing a sound not dissimilar to Ty Seagull and King Gizzard and the Lizard Gizzard. They haven't toured extensively for quite a while - since 2020 - but hopefully 2023 will see them putting the biggest smiles on peoples' faces.
The single Future Monument was released on the 15th of March 2022. The video was added to the Liminal Radio collection on the 13th of March when they enjoyed a total of 5223 views at the time. Nine months later and there are over 8000 views, but they surely deserve much much more. The seven-inch single, released by Spazz Records is limited to 300 copies and still available!
Watch the video below.