Band:	Cloak Of Altering
Album:	Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids
Style:	Avantgarde black metal
Release date:	October 2012

01. A Plague Has Travelled With Us
02. All I See Is Dead Stars
03. Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids
04. Separatist Declaration
05. Devoided
06. Initiation Rites Of Sector Five
07. The War Has Finally Found Us

It̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ I've been covering a lot of one man bands as of late: Yurei, Elysian Blaze, Wormlust... and now my multi-instrumentalist fetishes turn east from Iceland to the land of good cheese and regulated prostitution centers. As a disclaimer, I want to maintain a sense of subjectivity with this review for Mories's latest Cloak Of Altering offering. Each of his releases up to this point, from the Ophiucus-labeled Nihilistic Cosmic Concept to 2012's Ancient Path's Through Timeless Voids has been a unique and distinct creation in and of itself: his work, much like Devin Townsend's, hops all over the place with each output while retaining its core sound. This latest result of Mories's twisted, avant-garde approach to black metal is no different. So settle down and find a dark, quiet place to listen kiddies, because there's something far more potent lurking in Holland than marijuana.

From the very first minutes of the album, it's quite apparent that with Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids (as with the rest of Mories's material), the listener is in for an unconventional treat of simply epic proportions. Mories packs in all the twists and turns he's become known for into the mix. A hypnotic atmosphere of bizarre electronic synth usage ("Initiation Rites Of Sector Five," "The War Has Finally Found Us"). Muffled and distorted vocals that make the man sound even more inhuman than he already is ("Devoided," "A Plague Has Travelled With Us"). Thick, pulsating percussion eerily reminiscent of a heartbeat ("All I See Is Dead Stars," "Initiation Rites Of Sector Five"), and much, much more that, in all honesty, words themselves cannot do full descriptive justice.

I know: by now, something's telling you that there has to be a catch, right? That such amazing music simply has to have some sort of trade-off to it, presumably bad sound quality. But this is not at all the case, and Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids may very well be Mories's best album in terms of sheer production to date. Everything has a clear, crisp, delightfully articulated sound to it, perhaps the best example being closing track "The War Has Finally Found Us"; the keyboards, guitars, drums, vocals, and even the bass towards the track's end are all brought out with spot on precision. While some parts are intentionally given more of a focus by Mories at times, nothing is ever drowned out in the composition, and this really must be lauded as a perfect technique, because let's not kid ourselves: with a composer such as Mories, who packs so many amazing shapes and sounds into his music, it's only fair to have a flawless production that brings everything out, so that the listener can fully appreciate the man's talent for all that it's worth in every area of the songwriting.

Another victory for the PURE UNADULTERATED PASSION of one man black metal. Yup, that's what Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids is. It's also one of those rare albums that come along every now and then that, as I mentioned, can't be entirely described in words. Many of its concepts and sonic assaults are simply ineffable. You have to hear to fully comprehend and appreciate the formula. So what are you guys twiddling your thumbs for? This review is only the beginning, the skeleton, so to speak. It can only scratch the surface of this magnificent release. The rest of the formula, the real meat, what's hidden below, is just waiting for you to discover.