Release year: 2024
Label: Steinklang Industries

On their follow-up to 2021’s Rottenverse (reviewed here), German Bresthaft are simply more. More vicious, more loud, more noisy, more sadistic. More.

So no point to beat around the bush. I’m going to spoil the final verdict of the review here: I really like this album.

Continuing with the same cut-up aesthetics as on the previous album, already from the cover design Bresthaft make it clear that they’ve not set out to reimagine or renew their expression. But they’ve certainly not remain stuck in place. As said, Termination Transmission is more.

So, in other words, rather traditional noisy and vicious power electronics is the name of the game. Pulsating, droning, rumbling synthesizers; whirring, grinding sound of tortured metal; piercing shrill sounds of ear rape; hostile, sadistic vocals reciting negative lyrics. Bresthaft get no points for originality, opting for a very tried and true take on the genre.

But they do get points for quality. Lots of points, in fact.

Here, the progression Bresthaft has made becomes apparent. Termination Transmission is more focused in its sadism and violence, more effective in its delivery, nastier in its expression. After quite a few listens, I feel I can safely say the album is not only qualitatively better than its predecessor, but also in how it conveys the ultra negativity, the disdain and the hostility Bresthaft are all about.

Termination Transmission is also both more atmospheric and noisier than Rottenverse. The duo give more room for chaotic, decomposing moments of noisy maelstrom, layering cacophony on cacophony. At other times, they rein in the white noise chaos and go for a far more understated, ominous approach of merely one or two layers of sound and ample focus on the distorted, mutilated vocals.

At times, Termination Transmission reminds me of Finnish noise legend Grunt. In the same way, there’s an undeniable sadism and hostility in the music, and both projects know to not just blast vicious noise and full-on torture for the entire duration; instead, there’s dynamism in the compositions, with moments of lull serving to accentuate the moments when everything is cranked to 11.

And when you compare something to Grunt… well, that’s high praise.

So, the bottom line is, to repeat what I said above, at the start of this review: I really like this album. Bresthaft stick to a recipe they’ve already made work in the past, and improve in just about every imaginable field. So when the previous album was good and this is better, well… don’t miss out.

Visit Bresthaft on Bandcamp