David Maxim Micic is a guitarist / keyboardist, composer and producer from Belgrade, Serbia (though at the time of his birth in 1990, it was still a part of the former Yugoslavia). David Maxim Micic is already relatively well-known on the djent music scene; djent, for those who don't know, is a name given to a style of playing of progressive metal, named after the uncharacteristically low-tuned sound that the guitar emits, a sound that more or less goes "djent." The guitar definitely takes center stage in the genre, as djent guitarists sometimes opt for 7 or even 8-stringed guitars in lieu of the standard 6 string. However, many call it a genre or a sub-genre (including myself) due to mere simplicity or the plausible belief that djent has come to encompass a whole genre, as many, many bands have come to adopt the style of playing.
David Maxim Micic is not just another solo artist over-saturating the djent market, though; his songs are something special. I don't know if it is due to his geographic location and culture or his past guitar teachers, but he has some pretty interesting influences at times. He has been active since 2011, with his release of his Bilo 1.0 EP, to which he added Bilo 2.0 a year later, then Bilo 3.0 a year after that, in 2013, followed by the releases of EGO and ECO, each in 2015. David Maxim Micic's music has greatly evolved, though, as he has experimented much more in his musical style in his later releases, as he keeps djent influences but transitions more to a calmer, more progressive metal sound, especially on ECO.
Many djent artists make either instrumental music or music with vocals (barring the bands that later release instrumental versions of their songs, which is thankfully a growing number), and David Maxim Micic follows this pattern more or less, making mostly instrumental songs as they make up about 80% of his discography meaning that his non-instrumental songs (all of which exclusively feature guest vocals) constitute about 20%. And while there is typically much debate over whether djent is better with or without vocals, I cannot say the argument can be easily made in the case of David Maxim Micic's songs, as they are all very good, with or without vocals. Of his songs that do have vocals, though, they are all mostly clean, as opposed to screaming, though there are a couple of songs with harsher backing vocals.
Through such songs, he definitely shows off his talent as a composer, as his songs have strong, groovy rhythms, practically guaranteed to make your head bob. And these melodies, coupled with nontraditional instruments introduced in djent such as the violin, the cello and a choir, David Maxim Micic is definitely bringing something new to the genre and not a moment too soon.
