Cloak of Altering

Lore & Background

Cloak of Altering was founded in 2010 by Dutch multi-instrumentalist and composer Maurice "Mories" de Jong as a continuation of his Ophiuchus project, which began in the late nineties. The project debuted with the album The Night Comes Illuminated With Death in 2011. A second album, Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids, followed in 2012, and a third, Plague Beasts, was released in 2014. The fourth album, Manifestation, came out in 2015, and the fifth, I Reached for the Light that Drowned in Your Mouth, was released in 2017. Two additional full-length albums have been released: Zero Devil (2018) and Sheathed Swords Drip with Poisonous Honey (2021).

Reader's Guide

Cloak of Altering is significant as a distinct project within the broader discography of Maurice de Jong, known for its greater reliance on synthesizers and electronic music compared to his other work. The project's seven full-length albums, released between 2011 and 2021, trace a consistent evolution of this sound. Its importance lies in demonstrating how black metal can be fused with electronic elements, expanding the genre's boundaries while maintaining a dark, atmospheric core.

Did You Know?

• Cloak of Altering was founded in 2010 as a continuation of the Ophiuchus project, which began in the late nineties.
• Synthesizers and electronic music play a larger role in Cloak of Altering than in de Jong's other projects.
• The project has released seven full-length albums, from The Night Comes Illuminated With Death (2011) to Sheathed Swords Drip with Poisonous Honey (2021).

Origins & the Ophiuchus Lineage

Cloak of Altering emerged in 2010 as the brainchild of Maurice "Mories" de Jong, a Dutch multi-instrumentalist and composer whose musical journey stretches considerably further back than the project's official inception. The name was not conjured from a blank page; rather, it represented a deliberate evolution of the Ophiuchus project, which de Jong had been developing since the late 1990s. In practical terms, the creative seed was planted roughly a decade and a half before the first Cloak of Altering record was released. This continuity is significant: it signals that de Jong was not simply launching a fresh experiment but refining and redirecting a body of work that had been gestating for years. The project sits firmly within the black metal tradition, yet its genesis as a successor to an earlier endeavor lends it a sense of accumulated depth. For listeners encountering the music for the first time, knowing that it carries the DNA of a late-nineties project adds a meaningful layer of context to its compositional choices. The Dutch origin also situates de Jong within a broader European black metal lineage, though the project's specific identity is shaped more by its internal evolution than by any single national scene.

Sonic Identity & the Electronic Dimension

What distinguishes Cloak of Altering from both the wider black metal scene and from de Jong's other musical projects is the comparatively prominent role that synthesizers and electronic music occupy within its compositions. The project is unambiguously black metal in genre, yet de Jong made a conscious choice to integrate electronic elements to a degree that surpasses what appears in his other work. For listeners familiar with de Jong's broader catalog, this means Cloak of Altering presents a noticeably different sonic balance: the same composer, the same Dutch musical heritage, but with synthesizers and electronic textures elevated to a more central compositional role. Rather than serving as mere background embellishment, these electronic elements are woven into the structural fabric of the music, expanding the textural and atmospheric range beyond what a purely acoustic black metal framework would allow. The result is a project that honors the darkness and intensity of its genre while simultaneously pushing its sonic boundaries through the deliberate use of electronic instrumentation. For fans exploring de Jong's discography, this distinction in emphasis is one of the most important factors in understanding why Cloak of Altering occupies its own space alongside, rather than within, his other projects.

The Seven-Album Arc

From 2011 to 2021, Cloak of Altering delivered seven full-length albums, each carrying a title that evokes a distinct image or narrative fragment. The debut, The Night Comes Illuminated With Death, arrived in 2011, followed a year later by Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids in 2012. After a two-year gap, Plague Beasts appeared in 2014, and Manifestation followed in 2015, marking a period of more consistent output. The fifth album, I Reached for the Light that Drowned in Your Mouth, came in 2017, its title notably more personal and emotionally charged than its predecessors. Zero Devil followed in 2018, maintaining the rapid pace of the mid-period. The most recent release, Sheathed Swords Drip with Poisonous Honey, arrived in 2021, closing out a decade-long span of creative output. The titles collectively suggest a thematic range spanning cosmic imagery, ancient mythology, visceral biological horror, and intimate emotional struggle, hinting at a composer who draws from a wide well of inspiration across the project's lifespan.

Continuity, Presence & the Ongoing Project

One of the most striking aspects of Cloak of Altering is its longevity as a creative endeavor. Founded in 2010 as the continuation of the Ophiuchus project from the late 1990s, the project has maintained an active discographic output spanning over a decade, with seven full-length albums released between 2011 and 2021. This sustained commitment speaks to de Jong's dedication to the project as an evolving artistic statement rather than a one-off experiment. The project maintains an online presence through an official website, a Facebook page, and listings on music databases such as Discogs and MusicBrainz, ensuring that its catalog remains accessible and properly catalogued for new and returning listeners alike. The fact that the project was explicitly positioned as a continuation of earlier work, rather than a fresh start, underscores a philosophy of musical growth and refinement over time. For fans of the black metal genre, Cloak of Altering represents a case study in how a single composer can carry a creative thread across two decades, reshaping and recontextualizing it under a new name while preserving its essential character.

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