Italian industrial spook-prog outfit Spettro Family are back with another release on Black Horizons, this one a split with fellow post-industrial mood-setters Novy Svet. The Austrian duo is known for a grim, experimental brand of neo-folk laced with traces of dark abstract ambience, a pretty perfect fit alongside the creepy horror-score influenced sounds of the Family.

   Novy Svet's "En Soledad Perfecta" on the a-side is moody stuff, a sort of dark folk rendered through largely electronic means, vaguely symphonic keyboards carrying the gloomy melody over the duo's scattershot drum machine rhythms, layered samples of voices and wobbling effects combining with the singer's haunting half-sung croon drifting through this eerie haze. There's a definite connection to the classic militaristic folk of Der Blutharsch, whom Novy Svet has long had ties to, though this song drifts down a decidedly more surreal path.

    On the other side, Spettro Family follow with "Hotel Del Salto", beginning with the folky sounds of accordion and acoustic strings but quickly morphing into their vaguely industrialized take on Goblin/Frizzi-style horror prog that has made this project a huge favorite around here. The track teases at slipping into a synth-heavy groove, but never quite goes there, instead shifting back into that eerie folkiness, allowing those ominous synth arpeggios and low drones to wash over the layered voices and ghostly noises that lurk deeper down in the mix. The whole record is frustratingly short, but I'll take what I can get when it comes to Spettro Family. The sleeve design is interesting, if not a little incongruous, for some reason incorporating photos of Jessica Way (Worm Ouroboros / Barren Harvest) and former Swans member Jarboe into the design. Limited to five hundred copies.