You’re Still Saving Me – Relentless Pursuit (reviewed by The Night Writer)

Juxtapositions. A long word I tend to throw into reviews now and again to sound clever? An unexpected collision of two unexpected elements? Well, in the case of this unusual release from Relentless Pursuit, the latter as You’re Still Saving Me, is a beguiling mix of genres….okay, it’s also a long word that I tend to throw into reviews now and again to sound clever but let’s focus on the music.

Classical music has often made interesting bedfellows with heavy metal, the blend of grace and grunt making for wonderfully attractive opposites. But even in the most poised symphonic metal, such orchestrations tend to be found as intros or interludes, breakdowns or emotive playouts. Here, it is the fact that the delicate piano sounds run across the song throughout, a chiming and charming platform onto which more muscular and metallic sounds are hung.

Relentless Pursuit is the solo project of Matthew Konradt, and when I say solo, I mean it in the truest sense of the word, as everything you hear is the product of his own hand – all instruments, the vocals, drum loops, production and even the video. And perhaps, like all artists working mainly to their own set of rules, it is that lack of outside influence that makes his music so unique.

You’re Still Saving Me is a heady blend of classical delicacy and cavernous guitars; it wanders between gentle, lulling piano lows and sky-searing sonic highs, from ambient grace to earth-splitting grooves. But better than that, whereas most artists would try to separate the two frequencies, here, you can often hear them existing in the same space. And if you think such a combination might muddy the waters somewhat, nothing could be further from the truth. Either the two sounds are so far apart sonically, or their positioning in the mix has ensured the required separation, but they manage to sit side by side without conflict or collision.

And vocally, there is much to like. Matthew has an appealing and controlled voice for the sweeter end of the music and the power and potency to pull off the screamo deliveries as required. And just like the music, it is this same balance of drive and delicacy, poise and power that makes the track such an exciting concept.

You can hear that the song is the product of the home studio, but such access to recording technology means that the world is a musically democratic place which has to be a good thing. But rather than dwell on any detractions in the rendering and production of the music, I prefer to see it this way. If this is what Relentless Pursuit sound like when left to its own devices, imagine what they would sound like with a reasonable budget and access to a professional studio. Wouldn’t that be something?