Review Summary: A cinematic somber journey through grief, rebirth, and perseverance
David Maxim Micic, the progressive metal, rock and djent aficionado has been very quiet over the past couple years. His last project entitled
Who Bit the Moon which had released back 2016. Fans where anxitiously anticipating the illustrious
Bilo IV record to be finally released, but they had to wait a couple years before hand. Cant rush art and all that, speculation from fans expected a similar outing to that of David's most celebrated work
Bilo III. Well its finally released, the mythical
Bilo IV. Well how does it sound, and where fans speculations correct on what it would sound like? Well, yes and no.
Bilo IV did deliver in what fans where hoping for in some cases, however what we got definitely pretty unexpected. The project begins with the cinematic offers of
Crumbs, as well
Of Bliss, both tracks being of an interlude fashion rather than a songs structuring.
Crumbs opens up quite beautifully, with stunning string arrangements, and promptly followed by a very stripped back piano composition. DMM tracks have featured this type of calmness in the past, but it's always a touching moment when it comes up. The track certainly takes it's time as for the 3 minute and 30 second runtime, although pretty, nothing much has really happened yet, and didn't I mention that David is a progressive METAL artist? Yes, well we will get to that. Eventually we do get to a song entitled
Itch (I know theres more words there in the title but we'll just call it that for convenience), this is of the pretty traditional sound one would come to know as a DMM listener. Progressive metal and djent for sure, and quite catchy melodies. The structuring is a little wonky but I think that's kind of a DMM signature. This song has really out there articulation that only someone like David would do in the current prog metal sphere, it's really one of a kind. This tracks reminds me a lot of tracks on his
Bilo II project, although I do think the tracks where done slightly better on Bilo II, and the melodies catcher, this is definitely a nice way to start things off.
The next big chunk of the album follows suit with a somber approach that was taken in the first 2 interlude tracks, from
Dx2 is me to
Away it's all pretty calm. This is the make or break moment for most listeners I feel, as most DMM fans would come to expect his prog metal side to show more of its self here, but it's not the case. Honestly this string of tracks is really beautiful, and I like them quite a bit, my issue though is theyre not really what I call songs, more like cinematic ambient moments? And that's the best way I can describe this album, it's very very cinematic, it could be a stunning score to a movie absolutely.
Of Grief is an important one as this track signifies David's grievances towards his mother, who had passed away not to long ago. Bittersweet as this song is really quite something but it was mustered from something that must have been painful to get out there to the masses.
At long last we come to more metal tracks on the record entitled
Cry and
Wedding, both tracks runtimes clocking in at a monolithic 9 minutes in length. I am pretty taken aback by the fact that it took us 7 tracks to get a song reminiscent of
Smile on David's
Bilo III project, a fan favorite by many. I'm not thrilled by this decision, yes I did previously say the little string of somber cuts where quite beautiful, but on a Bilo project, it's not what fans where exactly asking for.
Cry in usual Bilo fashion features the once again guest vocalist in Vladimir Lalic, he does a great job here again, yet I cant help but notice the similarities with Devin Townsend everytime. This track will certainly be the most crowd pleasing track of the bunch, as it features the prog metal that fans come to know from DMM oh so well. The riffs are all at full display on this one, and it's all very enjoyable. The chorus riff though is very reminiscent of the outro riff to
String Theory by fellow prog metal and djent band Intervals though, and if you look you will definitely see the similarity.
While both
Cry and
Wedding are definitely quite good tracks, they could have easily been trimmed in length I feel like, 9 minutes for both tracks seems a bit ridiculous to me.
Wedding I feel like garners this runtime a bit more convincingly due its bridge that is seriously some of the beautiful stuff I've heard all year, it's a wonderful crescendo. The culminating moment
Are We There Yet? ends things in a similar fashion to how the record began, calm and somber, with a babies crying faintly as David has become a father very recently. Thus signifying that when there is grief there is rebirth, with the journey resolving to its conclusion, David overcoming his demons and carrying his life with his child and wife, it's all very touching and moving.
This album is very uneven, and it's not going to satisfy most DMM fans who are going to expect the more prog metal side from him (including me myself). Its an experimental record, one could not possibly dispute that, and David's kind of signature to compose experimental albums after all... Leaving the metal tracks to the end of the album have me scratching my head. I understand why, but I'm still not in love with the decision. Theres a part of me that fully understands David's vision here, and the story he's telling us, but then theres the other that's wanting more of tracks with teeth that we associate so much with David. Maybe hes just not that person and anymore, and doesnt want to make that music anymore, and if so then the fans should respect his decision, or bid a fair well, it's certainly all up to you. David's
Bilo IV is overall a pretty marvellous piece of work despite the personal issues I have with it. As well as if you have tolerance for all the interlude tracks that is. It's definitely a very different side of DMM (even as a fan of
Who Bit the Moon, which already had a lot of cinematic somber tracks, it's nothing compared to this), and comparing it to his most acclaimed work
Bilo III is pretty tricky to say the least, there is really not much alike between them, besides the bombast of
Cry and
Wedding mostly. It's pretty wonderful and I am honestly liking it more and more with every listen, this is not an album for everyone, but it's certainly a special one for those who come to know it.
