The more the Swedish artist discography progresses, the more there is nothing new to discover, than his trademark solos.
Do not expect to listen to something new on “Relentless”. It is another speed and virtuosity demonstration album by Malmsteen; the compositions are not the main issue here. Not that there are no good songs in the album, on the contrary, there are quite a few. However, the guitar holds the leading part. Thus, between his artistic and sometimes monotonous solos, there are some good points, even some Byzantine motif elements. However, the songs are mainly focused around epic / power metal, because of Ripper’s voice. Especially “Enemy Within” (and more) seems to be written for that voice, I must say though that I don’t think this is the best band the best – probably – metal singer today could move along with.
In any case, “Relentless” will satisfy the fans of Malmsteen’s musical structure; I say structure because I think that composition and guitar solo values are reversed by probably the best student of the Blackmore School, who’s struggling to prove something – who know what?- to his great teacher. What he should really think about though is whether his albums should be sold in record stores or conservatoires…
