I also guarantee that it’s fun and tense and weird and psycho and brutal but despite that what I feel, mostly, is freedom… freedom from all musical constraints, freedom from commercial capitulation, freedom from record company bollocks, freedom from fan pressure, freedom from slavery to the business, journos and fickle, narrow-minded listeners… this is the theme tune from The Streets of San Francisco in bed for a threesome with 40s jazz and Rick James while being watched by the Boston strangler who is pissed off because he’s just been rejected for a bit-part in a remake of The Thing. In places it sounds like 70s funk, in others like something that could have been written for Grand Theft Auto on the Ps4 or for a splatter scene in Alien. I can hear old 80s and 90s metal influences, bebop, hiphop, 80s pop, some arthouse jazz… there’s even one bit that reminds me of the Doors. There are some freaky soundscapes that could easily accompany a 50s scifi movie; there are driving, slappy and touchy-feely bass-lines hitting every fucking note on the fretboard at speed (by Joost himself), totally off the wall and harmonically interesting trombone, sax, trumpet and bugel sections (played by Jeroen Verberne, Tommie Freke and Gidon Nunes Vaz), beastly drum parts (by Koen Herfst) and some inspired keywork at the hands of Thijs Ronteltap (which, in places, is hard to hear). There is melody, dissonance, tension, resolution, climax and foreboding but above all you can hear the metal influences in the build-up, the breaks and the overarching sentiment… but if it does feel like metal it certainly doesn’t sound like it. Perhaps it’s redefining heavy, perhaps it’s not. Choreomanic’s psycho bass riffage is also offset with some beautiful, dark, melodic pieces which, in my opinion show true musicianship and a penchant for unique and dark yet touchy-feely composition, albeit that the tactile bits feel like the cold hands of death rather than the warm, sticky caress of a covid-infected latina lover.

This album is about as commercially minded as a sand-importer in Saudi but it’s from the heart (and certainly a somewhat twisted, disordered and genial mind) and it’s pure, unadulterated, uncompromising and clearly done for no other reason than for writing, recording and performing the odd little ditties which have clearly been helter-skeltering around in Mr van der Graaf’s brain for quite some time now. This endeavour should be applauded In this day and age of soundbite, throw-away music, countless shit reunions, commercial sellouts, dime a dozen cover bands and copy-paste bollocks lacking even the smallest grain of compositional originality or musical integrity. I suppose my three major criticisms would be that there are only limited vocals on it (and Joost is pretty good at those too!) which makes it a less capturing whole than it perhaps would have been with some vocal hooks; that some of the songs are rhythmically pretty complex making them hard to listen to and; that in some places the keys are difficult to hear (although that’s perhaps my messed up hearing). Having said that the whole is so much bigger than the sum of the parts and all in all these are just my own opinions rooted in a taste which prefers songs to pieces. I found it quite difficult to listen to but when you actually sit down and do so then you will find a lot of magic in it (of both the hermetic and mushroom kind).

In Joost’s own words: “This project is not only a musical statement but also a call to action against (cultural) oppression. May everyone move and create in freedom!” Who can argue with that? Personally I think notable mentions should be given to ‘Calling God’ (was the outro recorded at home or sourced from Pornhub? I will let you decide 🤣) and ‘Story About The Moon’. Two absolutely marvelous tracks. There is, however, so much on this album… buy it, listen to it and be enthralled! So, if you like Mano Negra crossed with Fishbone, Dizzy Gillespie, Thrash metal and ambient, infused with a bit of industrial, 1950s sci-fi movies, PS4 shootem up soundtracks and Cthulu pulp, well then this is for you.