Resembling some nightmarish version of classic 80's darkwave fronted by poltergeists, Ev Of Isis's Dark Ambition is another strange and alluring cassette of mutant darkwave drenched in catacomb shadows from the Bel�ten label, which has brought us equally enthralling new sounds from Terence Hannum (Locrian), Trepaneringsritualen, Three Winters, and Sutekh Hexen in recent months. The Swedish/American duo of Josefin Hinders and Amanda Schoepflin introduces us to their ethereal black 'wave with the slow swell of percussive metallic noise, ominous distorted synths and ghostly vocals of opener "Mezzy (Intro)", the almost black metallish distorted buzz that swarms in the background vaguely resembling the blur of black metal guitars, a bleary minor-key haze of distortion that hangs, wraith-like, against the sounds of scrap-metal being are hammered in syncopation with the morose tempos, the vocals writhing like tendrils of ectoplasmic vapor through the air, a mixture of different voices coming together with their delirious distorted crooning. This is a strange, sinister, vaguely blackened brand of darkwave that Ev Of Isis create here, a sound that comes fully into form on the second song "Trudging", that clanking percussion gives way to a hypnotic caveman beat, a muffled motorik pulse buried down in the mix, those eerie female vocals seeming to grow more ghoulish and dissonant, while the synths throb blackly in the background. "Unleased (M0AN)" is similar, with more of that murky moldering low-fi darkwave gloom possessed by more of those sputtering, mechanical rhythms and looped tribal beats, the spectral singing becoming even more vague and unintelligible, a smear of choral sound that glistens against the crumbling synths.

   Some faint streaks of light start to emerge on the other side, however. "(NA0M) Dehsaelnu Devirped" churns out of the depths like some mutant version of Dead Can Dance, swirling glitchy rhythms circling beneath the layered voices, a mournful atmosphere hanging heavy over the music, while the backwards pulsations and otherworldly voices on "Gnigdurt" presumably take elements of the song "Trudging" and bends/warps them into this newly nightmarish backwards creepout; the same goes for "(Ortni) Yzzem", a hellish inversion of the intro track from the first side. Not sure if what we're hearing is simply the tracks being played backwards without any additional manipulation or layering, but regardless, it's creepy stuff. Comes with a digital download.