Multi-instrumentalist Matthew Konradt is quite possibly one of the most prolific artists out there right now. Less than a year since his last album, Through Confusion, he's already back with his next Relentless Pursuit album, Upward We March. The Relentless Pursuit project has been a steady example of starting from the ground up; Konradt's earliest work, even back to Ascend the Soul, was riddled with production and songwriting issues. But as new music keeps coming out, the gradual increase in overall quality is apparent. While Upward We March is still quite limited by the lower production value, not to mention some occasionally rough instrumentation and clean vocals, it certainly does have a lot of promise, and some intriguing song construction. "Wildfire" is a great example, as it uses different genres together to mesh metal riffs with delicate piano and synth. It almost reminds me of something I'd hear on Showbread's No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical (not stylistically, per se, but in the way the song is so quick to shift from one genre to the next). "You're Still Saving Me" immediately follows with the same kind of attitude, though it gets a little heavier at certain times (Konradt's growls generally seem to lean more toward death/deathcore), and the instrumental "Crush" even utilizes dance and drum line-style beats with bits of techno and haunting symphonic elements to make it stand out from the rest of the tracklist. The back half is stronger, with some of Relentless Pursuit's best work yet, especially in "Illusion" and "To Persevere," the former of which sounds like the most complete, well-written song of Konradt's career thus far. It's been a pleasure to hear each new Relentless Pursuit release get better and better, and it should be clear to anyone else who has followed along that Upward We March is yet another big leap forward.

- Review date: 8/15/23, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com