Nude Casino (Gate)

Vinyl LP pressing housed in a gatefold sleeve includes digital download. Rotterdam's Iguana Death Cult hasn't exactly been shy about causing havoc on whatever stage they set foot. That's likely been the one constant since establishing their giddy brand of protopunk and garage rock on debut LP The First Stirrings Of Insect Life. Iguana's pending follow-up Nude Casino marks a swift and sobering departure from the miasma of psychedelics they purvey so fervently. But no less intense: this band has been sharpening their tools, reemerging from their concrete cavern with a ragged and convulsive post-punk attack akin to Devo, The Gun Club, and Richard Hell. Nude Casino sporadically evokes Iguana Death Cult's more hedonistic tendencies, but the album's crisper, more unvarnished sonic makeup illustrates a seething skepticism as a counterbalance. Frontman Jeroen Reek finds himself teetering in demented neurosis between vivid dream states and stark reality.