Matthew Konradt started off 2024 with his third album in as many years under the Relentless Pursuit moniker. Mere months out from that album's release, he's already gearing up for the next entry in his discography. The first single from LP4 is a heavy-hitter called "Nirmata." Though there is a lot to be said about spacing out releases, "Nirmata" really only exhibits further growth for the musician. Sure the drums are a little compressed and the track could do with some proper mixing and mastering, but the overall product is almost night and day from the first album. And all of the vocals are either screamed or growled, with no clean vocals, which were always a main detractor. The song is just heavy, fast, straightforward metalcore, which is really Konradt's bread and butter. As far as the message, the song is one of repentance, acknowledging sin, and begging for forgiveness from a merciful God ("Will You put my soul back together / paralyzed by this internal struggle / cure me of the sin in my life / only You hold the cure"). Some other parts can be a little repetitive, but overall, it's not enough to really damage the song. In fact, I'd say that "Nirmata" is one of Relentless Pursuit's best tracks yet, and I'm interested to hear it in the full album's context.

- Review date: 3/11/24, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com