Kris Pohlmann - Relentless (CD)

Black Penny Records in cooperation with Timezone Records will release 'Relentless', the fifth studio album by Kris Pohlmann, on March 7, 2025.

Recorded by experienced German blues-rock producer Martin Meinschäfer (Henrik Freischlader & Kai Strauss), "Relentless" features 10 new, self-penned songs. With this album, award-winning blues-rock artist Kris Pohlmann pushes the boundaries of the genre toward album and classic rock.

"It's been over six years since my last album 'Feel Like Going Home'. Six long years. It wasn't a conscious decision, but life really got in the way. First came the good... the birth of my son Freddie, named after Freddie King, of course! Then came the bad... the coronavirus and all the canceled tours. And then came the ugly... the loss of four family members, including my father, as well as two serious disc surgeries that resulted in the partial loss of feeling in my left index finger, which for a guitarist everything anything but ideal. Life has been relentless these past few years."

The late John Lee Hooker sang, "Blues is a healer, it can heal you, it healed me." That may be a cliché, but the process of writing the new album proved to be very therapeutic for Kris Pohlmann.

"The loss of my father had a huge impact on me. I wrote the music for 'Don't Leave' back in 2015, but it wasn't until after his death in 2022 that I was able to write the lyrics. Once I channeled those emotions, the song more or less wrote itself, which really helped me cope with this painful loss."

Older, wiser, and with a few more battle scars, this collection of songs, some dating back to 2009, is deeply personal, dealing with love, loss, disappointment, and feeling overwhelmed yet still fighting. Alongside more thoughtful, softer songs like 'Don't Leave' and 'Never Said Goodbye,' 'Relentless' contains some of Kris Pohlmann's hardest rocking songs to date. 'Look At Me Now,' a song about overcoming setbacks, and 'Change Your Mind' are sure to be live favorites. 'It's Only Love,' a classic rock song, is arguably one of the best songs Kris Pohlmann has written to date.

“This was one of those songs where I had the music, the riff and the structure of the song, but only a rough idea for the

Chorus. I had the song on my phone and started I started writing lyrics while on a plane back to Germany after visiting my mother in England. By the time I landed, the song was finished."

'It's Only Love' features Esther Nkongo and Florence Mankenda, who also appear on the songs 'Same Old Lies', 'Don't Leave' and 'Feel Like The World's Got The Better Of Me'.

'Same Old Lies' is a song split into two distinct parts. The first, with its funky clean guitar rhythm driven by Gert-Jan Naus's fabulous Stevie Wonder-esque keyboards, suddenly transitions into a heavy plucked guitar part, complete with a roaring solo, Fleetwood Mac-style backing vocals, and Kris Pohlmann's raspy lead vocals. Two songs, 'Feel Like The World's Got The Better Of Me' and 'Done Somebody Wrong', both date back to 2009.

"I wrote these two songs after recording my first album, 'New Resolution.' I'd always wanted to record them, but they didn't fit with my previous albums. While preparing for 'Relentless,' I worked on them with the band, and this time they just felt right. Lyrically, I think 'Feel Like The World...' perfectly captures the feeling of relentlessness."

The instrumental piece 'Serenity' consists of a calm piano intro and a poignant guitar melody before developing into an ascending guitar solo.

Writing for the new album began with the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. The first song completed was "Unreal," which directly addresses the consequences of the pandemic. Featuring slide guitar, haunting vocals, and Middle Eastern beats and samples, "Unreal" is a hypnotic, driving rock song.

"I'm not a blues purist. I like to push the boundaries of what I can and should do within the blues-rock genre. Artists can easily be pigeonholed in this industry and criticized for being too creative or experimental, but this album reflects where I am as an artist today. It's rock music, but with blues in its DNA."

Twenty years later, after playing Freddie King’s “Going Down” for the first time at a blues session at Topos in Leverkusen, Kris Pohlmann is back.