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Iguana Death Cult - Guns Out {Album Review}

READ Volume Digest's review of the prolific Dutch post-punk band Iguana Death Cult. Highlighting their upcoming album, Guns Out, as a bold evolution toward danceable art-rock.

The record blends jagged instrumentation with playful food-based metaphors and unexpected percussion, placing this Netherlands import alongside modern psychedelic and garage rock heavyweights.Iguana Death Cult - Guns Out Review Work ethic is not an issue for this post-punk Dutch import. Even with member changes in between, the Rotterdam psych-rock group has been turning out records. The band's debut, The First Stirrings of Hideous Insect Life, released back in February 2017, followed by Nude Casino nearly three years later, Echo Palace roughly three and a half years after that, and now their newest output, Guns Out.Iguana Death Cult is evolving their sound for their upcoming album, Guns Out, released on April 10. Led by frontman Jeroen Reek, this new direction is a pursuit of an almost dance style of punk that stays true to their identity while exploring a musical jagged edge and a "fun" atmosphere.Inspired by the rhythmic art-rock of David Byrne and No Wave pioneers like Medium Medium and Bush Tetras, the album opener, "Guns Out," is a frantic and aggressive track reminiscent of a high-speed chase from Baby Driver. The song features relentless, Mitch Mitchell-style drumming and a clever "false ending" that pauses briefly before a final, explosive "I’m on fire" refrain.Following the track is "I Like It, It's Nice," a heavy-footed number where the bass and—surprisingly—a güiro pop out against a steady, stomping rhythm. This combination creates a playful characteristic that anchors the track's appeal, supported by a simplistic rhythmic backbone that locks into a deep rock groove. The clever wordplay further elevates the song, utilizing food-based double entendres to describe "consuming" a person. Frontman Reek delivers lines like, "Give me your secret recipe / Fix me another plate / All that you serve me I will eat," with a perfectly cheeky low-register flair.The band doesn't stay in one mood for too long, as shown in "Swinging at Ghosts," which amps up aggression with the plowing force of peak punk rock while sustaining the quirky edge the band loves to indulge in. Accompanied by an electrified organ—oozing the self-proclaimed influence of Talking Heads—the track features the signature dance aesthetic the group has molded with traces of the B-52s, intentional or not. It is an impressive feat to blend raw punk volume and velocity with the pristine musical sensibility of danceable new wave. I now understand the value Iguana Death Cult brings to tours alongside similar greats like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Osees. Now that I have gotten a taste of their musical spectrum, Iguana Death Cult is very nice, and I like it.

Key Artist Breakdown

IGUANA DEATH CULT: A Dutch post-punk and garage rock band known for their high-energy performances.

GUNS OUT: The fourth album by Iguana Death Cults, released in 2026.

ROTTERDAM: A major port city in the Netherlands.The First Stirrings of Hideous Insect Life: The 2017 debut studio album by Iguana Death Cult.

NUDE CASINO: Iguana Death Cult's second album (2019), which introduced more melodic and groovy elements.

ECHO PALACE: The third album by Iguana Death Cult, released in 2023.

DAVID BYRNE: The lead singer of Talking Heads and a highly influential solo artist and collaborator.

NO WAVE: A short-lived but influential avant-garde music and art scene in late-1970s New York City.

MEDIUM MEDIUM: An English post-punk band best known for their 1981 dance-punk hit "Hungry, So Angry."

BUSH TETRAS: A New York City post-punk band famous for their jagged, funky sound and the song "Too Many Creeps."

BABY DRIVER [Song]: Refers to "Bellbottoms" by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, which sound-tracks the film's opening bank heist.

MITCH MITCHELL: The legendary drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, known for his jazz-influenced rock style.

THE OSEES: A long-running American garage and psychedelic rock band led by John Dwyer.

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD: A prolific Australian band known for their frequent releases and exploration of many genres.

TALKING HEADS: Led by frontman David Byrne, Talking Heads is a seminal American band that blended punk, art rock, and world music rhythms.B-52S: An iconic New Wave band from Georgia known for their campy aesthetic and hits like "Rock Lobster."

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Adeline Hotel - Hot Fruit Review

Establishing a real understanding of world-oriented music and the acoustic vibrations of folk music.

Establishing a real understanding of world-oriented music and the acoustic vibrations of folk music…Clocking in barely under 30 minutes, this small yet beautiful release of new material from Adeline Hotel succeeds, thanks to the woodwind instruments at the forefront, creating a serene environment. Pure, authentic, masterful instrumentation at its finest.

Now accompanied by New York-based guitarist Ryan E., Adeline Hotel’s Dan K. & Co. keep turning out lovely and beautiful material. This time around, with additional arrangements of violins, clarinets, flutes, harps, and pedal steel. Knishkowy replaces vocals with a warm ensemble led by therapeutic flutes.

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Slowdive - Everything Is Alive REVIEW

In the early 1990s, I smelled like teen spirit despite being a baby walking in diapers, and by the end of the decade, I felt like a freak on a leash deep into my adolescence, so shoegaze as a highly regarded sub-genre was not on my radar.

The English five-piece has a well-documented history of critical acclaim and importance in the shoegaze genre and a cult following that is admittedly foreign to me. So after weeks of absorbing the crystallized wall of guitar tones and amplified angelic vocals of Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, as an uneducated freshman in the genre, the appeal is noticeable.

The record starts strong with the intro “Shanty,” featuring looming filtered synths and crispy upbeat drums, followed by the track “Alife” and the album’s single “Kisses,” a calm wave of distorted delays. Even with adding more indie rock characteristics embedded in the band’s signature wall of sound, two of which showcase as solid standouts that continue the atmospheric momentum.

Having the benefit of not overstaying its welcome, with only eight tracks clocking in at a little over 40 minutes, the Berkshire legends’ fifth studio album is sheen, warm, and cinematically moving.

B

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BANDCAMP BACKPACKER #001

the best selections of the last true underground digital music scene this week.

1. The Drin - Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom

The murky Lofi noise outfit from Cincinnati plays their rough and distorted hearts out in the group's new release on LABEL. The post-punker's almost gothic, dungeon aesthetic demands attention alongside an equally potent album art.

Pick of the herd: Venom, Stonewallin.

2. Parannoul - Arrival

The mystery regarding the young yet prolific twenty-something South Korean musician, Parannoul (which translates to blue sunset), keeps getting more magnificent with their newest drop After The Magic, more significantly, the track Arrival, a seven-and-a-half minute majestic suite of minimal shoegaze intertwined with anthemic melodic distorted guitars and exploding drums. This shoegaze cut is a fantastic example of subtle breaks with a surreal epic conclusion. 

3. Bass Drum Of Death - Say Your Prayers

Mississippi veterans Bass Drum of Death officially returned with their first full-length record in nine years with "Say I Won’t",  the group's proto-punk influence cleaned up this time around for a more traditionally modern garage rock sound ala The Black Keys, made even clearer due to the production by Patrick Carney himself, as well as Mike Kerr of Royal Blood lending a hand with the writing work on the track "Say Your Prayers” VIA Fat Possum Records   

4. Gena Rose Bruce - Destroy Yourself

The young Australian gives her best material yet with the anticipated Melbourne import Deep Is The Way, giving a sound if a young Madonna left her pop stardom to create compelling and surprisingly melancholic folk rock at first glance. That impression does subside when the album rolls along with the track "Destroy Yourself" and sweet and hauntingly buzzing bop with Bruce exclaiming, "I’ve got a drive for destruction

I’ll surely die in the wrecking" underneath a swirling tremolo-like vocal effect. 

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Nate Paladino - Drown With Me [ Review ]

Orange County native Nate Paladino released his new full-length album titled ‘Drown With Me’ setting the groundwork for crafting memorable storytelling no matter how melancholic and vivid.

With bare-bones instrumentation, the album holds together with each track conveying a thematic rollercoaster of flawed romance mentality.

The album's first single is also the record's opener. Starting the playthrough strong with its clean electric guitar and surrounding amplified swells in “Problems In Bed”. Paladino expresses the blinding grey area of love and affection combined with romantic and animalistic passion.

“I can’t read your thoughts, honey you’re not in my head/ So baby let’s go solve our problems in bed.”

Over tight blues rock chord progressions in the likes of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paladino is one songwriter who embraces the lost art of music from the past. This includes the classic country dinger “Band-Aids on My Heart”, which shows the Johnny Cash inspiration that gave way to raving media buzz from his Good Boy EP in late 2014.

The naturally coarse singing in this new release does provide a vast selection of genre-shifting material, like the heavy-hitting, floor-running centerpiece track “Nothing Good”. A suspenseful mix of surf rock, punk, and new wave, presenting a fantastic example of Paladino's musical virtuosity. In contrast, the mellowed-out “Blue Skies and Mai Tais”, is a charming melodic send-off to attractive toxicity accompanied by a traveling banjo.

Everything that we previously enjoyed about the Californian singer-songwriter has only been upgraded and amplified by this best outing yet.

Best Tracks: Problems In Bed, Nothing Good, Blue Skies and Mai Tais, Drown With Me, Somebody Fragile Listen:

8.6