CD, Tinderbox Records, 2009
www.roughhausen.com
This is the latest offering from the Roughhausen crew, “Someone’s Got To Pay”, a 5-song EP including unreleased mixes, new originals and even a live song. This latest offering from Tinderbox Records is a short bare-knuckle brawl of EBM and industrial.
The first song, “[sic] fuk” is a classic wandering into 90’s style industrial reminiscent of KMFDM: hard kicks, slab guitars, and distorted vocals lead the way to a catchy female vocal chorus. “Dirty Little Secret” creeps out of the closet with light synths rising into a jazzy industrial fusion, lurching through the verse and exploding into manic chorus lines. “Control (Lying MOFO mix)” comes in strong with distorted synth lines, dance floor rhythms and warm pads; highs sweeping in and out of the dirty filtered vocals. It creates a whirlwind of intensity and raises the bar by softening the distortion with ethereal female vocals. “U Better Run (live)” is a gritty recording of Roughhausen’s live mayhem but like any live recording loses a lot of the sound in the translation. “An Awakening (Rise mix)” is a well executed adventure in noise, samples lingering in the feedback with hard industrial drums pounding the landscape into pulp as running synths pierce from every angle. This song closes a rowdy album with the calm equivalent, a strictly instrumental kick in the teeth.
Roughhausen produce a great EP but the contribution of live and remix tracks will always detour new listeners. I suggest this album as a taste for any new listener who enjoys My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Velvet Acid Christ or KMFDM. You will not be disappointed.
[7.5/10]
— James Church