Relentless Pursuit – “He Is Coming”

Relentless Pursuit – “He Is Coming” – Single Review

I mean…He’s not…but sure, you’re always welcome to believe what you wanna believe, same as I am.

We have yet another fiery burst of rampaging noise from Relentless Pursuit, the first single from the upcoming EP called The Aftermath, arriving January 1^st, 2026.  Matthew Konradt has always been a massive fan of crafting tunes that are tough to love to say the least…but I think you’ve gotta give him his due credit for being able to generate songs that are never going to be for the faint of heart, so much as they might work more successfully as a substitute for a defibrillator.  As many of you out there know, and have seen from the endless string of reviews I’ve written throughout my career, I listen to a whole lot of music out there.  It’s rare for me to find something as tough to get into as what Relentless Pursuit creates.  Faith-based Death Metal music?  Is that what we’d be calling something that sounds like this?

So.  “He Is Coming.”  I’ll say this about Relentless Pursuit – I’ve never not been interested.  Even though the material has actually brutally disagreed with me biologically in the past (see review on “Modified Reconstruction”) – Matthew’s one-man project has always shown such commitment and conviction that I’m still just as interested as ever in hearing what the guy is up to.  For real, you’ve gotta admire how he plays this music with the freedom he does.  Pass or fail, whether you’re listening or not, Konradt is gonna do what Konradt does, exactly the same way tomorrow, because it’s not about any of us and how we feel.  Dude’s on a mission of his own making, and he’s clearly happy with what he creates – who would I, or anyone else be, to tell him to stop doing any of that?  Bring on the noise I say!  I don’t know that what he’s doing is likely to convert many folks into becoming religious, but hey, you never know.  One could argue that what he’s doing with Relentless Pursuit is going to struggle just as much to convert people into music fans, but he’s always seemed remarkably comfortable in his audibly adversarial role.

With a roar that sounds like he’s charging-up to explode, “He Is Coming” comes out with a punishing approach that gives you little time to adjust to it, if any at all.  Like…whatever you were listening to right before this, it probably wasn’t anything like “He Is Coming,” and Konradt isn’t waiting for folks to catch up so much as plowing straight through them instead.  As to whether or not the unbridled degrees of sheer sonic intensity are gonna be for most listeners…again…I just don’t see or hear that that’s a concern for Konradt…he’s just gonna do things his way no matter what, and so he should.  I have never gotten the sense that he expects anyone out there to ‘get’ what he does, but I’m sure he’s as happy as Matthew gets when it happens all the same.  I don’t listen to a whole lot of this kind of music in my personal life for similar reasons as to why I never joined the army or chose to participate for very long in the corporate world – I don’t need anyone yelling at me.  But supposing I did…sure…why not Matthew?  Dude’s got a decent yell/scream/growl thing goin’ on, and if you’re into that & don’t feel like you quite want to go the traditional route of paying a dominatrix, then sure, throw on a song like “He Is Coming.”

In any event, my days of being religious are long behind me at this point, so bear with me, because I’ve never known a whole lot about it to begin with…but I’m guessing a song like this would be based in the Old Testament?  That’s the more viciously brutal one, right?  I don’t know that I need a God that is so intimidating that “when His fire grows, the whole earth trembles from His presence” – but if that’s your jam, then right on, you do you.  I don’t necessarily think of myself as the ever-lovin’ hippie type either, but I suppose if I had to pick aside, I’m much more on that one than the whole place is gonna burn type of person, you feel me?  “He Is Coming” takes a large amount of testicular fortitude to create, or withstand as a listener for that matter – Matthew’s got all the sound coming at you at all times, and he’s more than content to let it consume you.  Objectively speaking, there are some real quality ideas in the drums and in the guitars…but I think bass-wise he probably needs to get a little more creative than just having it hammered to reinforce the low-end.  In my opinion, there’s just nothing interesting happening from the bass, and the amount of low-end that’s added to the song is really just creating a wall of sound effect that’s tough to break down in a way that you can properly absorb the rest of what’s happening.  That’s my perspective on it, but you might feel differently.  There are plenty of bands that create a wall of sound that I enjoy, like Mogwai, or This Will Destroy You!, or even clipping. when you see them play live…but it really does have to be approached in just the right way, and I have no idea on how to advise someone on what the right way would be, versus a way that won’t be appreciated as much.  Trial and error I guess?  That’s a large ask of the audience out there listening.  Vocally…look…it is what it is…I’m not gonna tell you that Konradt doesn’t do what he does well, because I’m actually 100% positive that the music he makes comes out to the exact specifications that he’s chosen for it – so in that sense, whether we find things worthy of our ear-time or not from the outside listening in, it’s kind of irrelevant.  All he has to do is satisfy his own goals & achieve what he’s set out to do – that’s what success really is when it comes to the music of Relentless Pursuit, and if you happen to enjoy it, then right the fuck on.  My favorite line in this track is “the coming of the Lord is nigh,” and how it continues on to say “upon this world” afterwards…it sounds different and it IS different, in a way that I found to be engaging.  As for the rest around that moment…I dunno…sheer volume doesn’t equate to attention or accessibility.  I like the spots where Matthew is making his boldest moves creatively, but they’re hard to get to with the presence of the low-end looming as large as it constantly does…I think he’s got room in what he creates to let the music breathe a bit more, as opposed to being so confined & compressed that it can leave you with a headache instead.  That’s how I hear it anyways.  Relentless Pursuit is always going to be a severely acquired taste if you’re lucky enough to acquire it at all, but there are still moves that Matthew can make in order to bend it just a little more towards being listenable, rather than appearing like the irresistible force meeting the immovable objects.  That’s all his call.  All I can tell ya is what I hear, and to be fair, I only ever have singles for a very short time before I’m writing about them – “He Is Coming” still shines a light on his skillset and is still impressive in the sense that it’s just one person that is causing all this noise for you to hear…but it’s falling fairly short on the kind of content that the masses can handle.  That may very well be the goal for Konradt – he’s the only one who would know for sure.  Relentless Pursuit has never been a project to take the easy route, but this path might be harder than necessary.

Find more music from Relentless Pursuit at Apple Music:  https://music.apple.com/us/artist/relentless-pursuit/1641011429

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