ALTER EGO

The album begins with a short and very lovely lullaby with acoustic guitar and soothing female vocals. Then we are welcomed into the dream with a tremendously punchy and uplifting pop rock tune called, "ANGEL". I can't help but think of eighties bands like Tears for Fears or It Bites for that super eighties pop prog sound. This song will have you dancing around and shooting rainbows and twinkle stars from your aura. Be warned though that there is a rock edge that becomes stronger as the track approaches its final minutes.

One thing you'll learn pretty quickly about Joost is that he's got the creativity of Queen when it comes to putting together albums. "Corpus Christi" is more rock with that prog story-teller approach, perhaps not far from Pain of Salvation but very different in sound. Watch out for that almost Dream Theater-ish break and guitar solo before we almost get a bit of David Bowie and then jump back into the main melody of the chorus of the song.

"Ever After" is the first track to really stick into my head, beautiful and longing. I believe Annie Haslan sings in the chorus, which is sung by the female character in the story, who I think might just be deceased...

"Judith" was my favourite track from the first album and here is "Judith - episode ii -". Different from the previous track except for the melody at the beginning, this track makes a great follow-up, adhering to the musical stage show approach to the music. The title track is insanely catchy and even more like a musical number. You will not forget the lyric, "Wasn't she a cutie / playing with her boobies". Try too get the chorus out of your head once it gets in. This song is a delightful diversion from my usual heavy rock and metal pastimes.

Two more tracks to go and "Burning Girl" sounds almost industrial metal at first, then later in the last couple of minutes does seem to go industrial. Devin Townsend perhaps? "DEMON" is the grand finale with a huge climax to the album. Then we wake from the dream with the closing track "Dreams-", which brings us back too where we started.

At 52:00, this album doesn't seem as long. It's a lot like a movie that just delivers the story in the perfect time frame and ends with you feeling neither that it was too long nor that there should have been more. The album will likely have you wanting to hear more from Joost. The good news is that "Overwrite the Sin" is out there and a new album is currently coalescing with a 2020 release planned.

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