Laughter is the duo of Christian "Chriz" Dietrich (lyrics, vocals, programming) and Sven "S.K." Klarovskis (producer, guitars, programming) from Wuppertal, Germany founded initially in 2002 as a synthpop project by Chriz, but over the years morphed into more of an EBM/Darkwave kind of thing when much later Chriz met S.K. through Facebook and the duo was solidified. The name Laughter is kind of ironic as there is barely a chuckle heard in their music, with themes of death and dying, pain and tears, hate and fear, and betrayal in relationships. Why war, famine, pestilence and plague weren't covered I don't know, but after all, this is just an EP, and I'm sure they need to save some misery for the next album.

Stylistically, Laughter sounds like old school dancefloor suitable EBM; kinda scratchy (but not really too harsh) vocals, semi-minimal synths with a basic but strong beat, and a lot of riff-heavy repetition. This is obviously nothing new, but it can be engaging when done well, and most of it is. Four songs are presented here - "Dark Wave" (death, dying, and a repeated "Here Comes the Dark Wave" chorus); "Flashback" (recalling pain and tears of the past); "Everything is Fine" (no, not really, just pretending it is); and "Break A Man." While the first three are fine, it's the last one I have a problem with. The song is obviously about a bad relationship but lyrically, the song comes off as misogynistic with lines such as "Embraced, disgraced, this hate goes to the core, Regret and forget, the love of a worthless whore..." Okay, I get it. She done him wrong. Love can be painful but venting with spiteful sexism is only going to get you attention from the wrong crowd. (Any Incels listening?) I might have rated this a little higher, but the last track just rubbed me the wrong way. Oh, and BTW, nice package guys but you should include your email and website.