Band:	Cloak Of Altering
Album:	Manifestation
Style:	Avantgarde black metal
Release date:	December 04, 2015
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Manifestation
02. -3.003486962(6)+ ?10-66
03. Stretching Infinity
04. Cave Systems Of The Outer Moons
05. Hidden Celestial Deity
06. Black Hole Cloaks
07. Parasitic Altering Sickness

I must apologize, fellow Metal Stormers, for there is still one Maurice de Jong output from 2015 that I failed to sufficiently bring to your attention. You had your tongue gnawed while you were dragged into sunlight. It only got worse as you were thrown, mesmerized, into the abyss of longing throats, while hell followed shortly thereafter in the Pyriphlegethon. But did you forget to wear your cloak of altering for protection while all of this was occurring? You can't forget about the cloak, you guys. Never forget about the cloak.

Over the past 5 or so years, Mories has really established Cloak Of Altering as being the more electronically-focused of his various experimental black metal incarnations. Around the time of 2011's The Night Comes Illuminated With Death, this project really began to see more of a trend for psychotic keyboard, synth, and who-knows-what-the-hell-else effects being incorporated into its mysterious black metal core. While the previous Plague Beasts album felt something like the grand culmination of this trend, seeming to lean more towards industrial influences than black metal, Manifestation continues that pattern, albeit in a more... restrained manner, perhaps. On this album, those electronic, industrialized elements are still here, of course, but they don't really seem to dominate the black metal as much as they seem to merge with it naturally, into what could very well be the closest Cloak Of Altering has come to its own interpretation of "industrial black metal" yet. That second track with all the numbers displays this especially.

As is often the case with Mories, on Manifestation it's all about the production. Sometimes this man's manipulation of various audio techniques to achieve the results he's looking for really seems to know no bounds. Comparing Manifestation to what has come before, this Cloak Of Altering album almost seems to have a bit of a two front approach at work with its sound, between very gritty and harsh at points, to embellish the industrial vibe (see "Stretching Infinity" or "Hidden Celestial Deity"), and also being more spacious and atmospheric to keep the dark ambient influence alive and well, not too unlike what was done on the latest Aderlating album (see "Cave Systems Of The Outer Moons"). More often than not, however, both approaches are employed in the same track, and it's a really wonderful fusion that reinforces the aforementioned "industrial black metal" feel of this album.

I may be in the minority when I say that Cloak Of Altering is probably my favorite Mories project of them all. There's just something about this one that seems to have all the fixins: aggression, bleakness, haunting atmospheres, beauty, serenity, and transcendence, and Manifestation is certainly no exception. While I wouldn't say this is the best COA release (I still give that award to this bad boy, believe it or not), it is most definitely a worthy addition to the project's discography, and to the collection of any diehard fan of extreme, experimental music.

Let the altering cloak manifest!