Formication make dark ambient with emphasis on dark. By adding metallic drone and an industrial menace to these five pieces, they have created an ominous and rich EP with more bite than many a similar release.

The highlights for me are the third and fourth tracks. The third track is a somber, rhythmic piece, one that looks within its drone for that rhythm and finds it. The fourth, is an otherworldy,
echoing, gothic piece, with occasional bursts of static, disturbing bass-heavy howls, and unearthly minor chords, the sound of quiet, probably fetid water dripping.

Most ambient records these days seem to like to end with a long track, and the fifth tune here is a Kraftwerk-esque dream piece running over 12 minutes. Slowly the buildup to an industrial pulse provides a fitting uncoiling of many of the EP?s motifs. This duo knows its electronica history as well as having a bag full of their own ideas. That combination makes for a formidable and creepy entry into the soundscape wars. 7/10 -- Mike Wood (8 January, 2008)