Bilo III and Lun are my favorite albums of his. I haven't really been crazy for any of his albums after Lun (Eco and Sordid Pink were good but not great, Who Bit The Moon is probably his weakest release)
Interesting. What do you not enjoy as much about WBTM? I'm a huge Plini fan, and that's the album he leans into that facet of his sound the most
You might have just answered your question for me.
Generally, guitar-focused instrumental rock/metal bores me to tears. I know Plini is a bit different (I haven't listened to him much) but I don't really care for bands like Animals As Leaders, Polyphia, Scale The Summit, etc. They just generally don't have the variety to keep my interest. David Maxim Micic is a big exception to that; for one he actually uses vocals on a handful of his songs, and even when he doesn't the way he composes his music just feels a lot more dynamic, thoughtful, and emotional than his contemporaries. Bilo III, to me, just feels like a big, epic prog metal album that happens to have a few instrumentals. Smile and Daydreamers do a lot of the heavy lifting on that album, and those have tons of vocals (and good ones, too). Where Is Now is one of the most bombastic, emotional, and uplifitng openers I've heard; there's been many of times I've thrown that song on when I just need an instant hit of happiness. Funnily enough the weird scat singing part towards the end is my least favorite part of it, so I definitely don't like the album just for being experimental.
I do hear a lot of Devin Townsend influence on that album like you say, but that's less to do with the weirder parts of it and more how David mixes heavy riffs and walls of sound with a bright, warm atmosphere. The intro to Smile instantly made me think of Addicted when I first heard it, which happens to be another one of my favorite albums of all time.
Who Bit The Moon just feels lacking in ideas for David's standards. It feels intentionally understated compared to his other works, which is fine, but that results in it being a lot more uninteresting to me. There's songs like 687 Days and the title track that feel like they only really have a single idea in them, and often the ideas aren't that memorable or just feel like weaker versions of stuff he's done before. I also think something was lost in making the sound less-heavy; like I said in the above paragraph, that mix of loudness and warm, uplifting atmosphere is what makes his best stuff so good. I kind of had that issue with Eco as well, but that album had some stronger songs to make up for it.
Topic: David Maxim Micic (Read 1011 times)
