Before starting this review, I should state that it’s totally biased – start to finish. But it’s kind of hard not to be when you’re dealing with an artist as talented as David Maxim Micic. From his humble beginnings working strictly as a bedroom project to exploding across his home country of Serbia and even the world, bringing all kinds of great musical minds together in the process, this guy is the man. And that’s also precisely why he’s landed himself as our Artist of the Week.
Well… at least that’s half the reason. The other half is the release of his brand new “EGO” EP a mere four days back. This release will serve as the first in a series of two EPs to be released by sire David Maxim Micic. The other half of this series will be known as “ECO” with an impending August 2nd release.
These EPs are the mastermind’s official follow ups to his critically acclaimed “Bilo” series (notice how everything ends with a big ol’ O?). If you happened to miss out on those three releases, consisting of two incredible EPs and an album, stop reading this now and go back! Honestly, it’s for your own good. This is the stuff of musical life enrichment. This is music from the soul, for the soul. You catch my drift…
Anyways, onto the matter at hand! Here we sit with the brand new David Maxim Micic release “EGO”. This beautiful monster consists of four tracks clocking into a total of ~23 beautiful minutes. With this, one can probably, safely assume the total experience of both “EGO” and “ECO” will be in the neighborhood of 40 minutes.
This particular EP begins with the electronic swells and soundscapes of “Define” just before the song backhands you with some excellent, melodic guitar work and drum groove. The song then weaves through a number of creative and even odd ideas before its conclusion at about five and a half minutes. This is a great example of the kind of strange excellence many have come to know and love from David Maxim Micic. Creative songwriting at its finest, if you will.
And, as one might expect, this reigns true throughout the rest of the “EGO” exploration. The other tracks “Develop”, “Disorder”, and “Devise” all hold their own respectively. And that’s a lot of D’s… I could sit here and attempt to vaguely describe them all as I have with “Define”. But, instead, I encourage everyone to just go ahead and listen for yourselves. Especially if you’re a fan of off-kilter, (mostly) instrumental, supreme Progressive Metal excellence. However, I will tell you this… You’ll have no idea what the hell is coming next. But you will experience new and memorable passages all before it comes to an untimely and dizzying end leading up to the doorstep of “ECO”. In other words, stay tuned.
From my perspective, there are no real drawbacks to this EP. No loose ends to pull and find fault with. However, I will admit I was surprised by the absence of up front vocal contributions from David’s usual female collaborators Aleksandra Djelmas (also of Destiny Potato) and Aleksandra Radosavljevic (previously of Destiny Potato, now with Above The Earth). However, operatic vocalist Vladimir Lalic came back to grace the soundtrack. There were also many other worthwhile collaborations from Nick Johnston, Larissa Terescenko, and Drasko Popovic.
In the end, it’s more than safe to say this an incredible, immersive experience that all fans of the genre (and just music in general) should be able to appreciate in one form or another. And, if you couldn’t tell by my opening comment, that’s precisely why I’m giving David Maxim Micic’s “EGO” a perfect 10 out of 10. I will also reiterate my comment that if you’re not familiar with this artist’s work, now is the time to discover it. And even if you are familiar with his work, go ahead and rediscover it. With a musician of this caliber, there’s always another layer to find – another secret waiting to have its whisper heard. And as we celebrate in this current glory, August 2nd approaches…
All of David’s work is available for streaming and purchase over on Bandcamp. You can also get the full experience through his various YouTube presentations. You can find both of these formats up above and so much more through the links provided. Enjoy!
Links: Facebook // Bandcamp // iTunes
