| CD REVIEW Borislav Mitic |
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Band : Borislav Mitic This excellent guitarist now hails from Montréal (Canada), but he was born in Belgrade (Serbia), where he first picked up a guitar at age 11. A self-taught musician, he learned his craft by copying records from his favourite musical heroes, among which were Ritchie Blackmore, Jimi Hendrix, and Michael Schenker. Progressing very quickly, he was already considered one of the hottest guitarists in his country at the age of 18, a time around which he started writing and recording his first instrumental album Fantasy. Released in 1996, the album consolidated Mitic’s position as greatest modern Serbian guitarero, and saw him draw from classical music (main inspiration Paganini) as well the works of top artists in the field such as Yngwie Malsteen, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani. But then the uglyness of the Balkan wars started! In 1997 Mitic sent some of his music to Mike Varney (renowned producer and owner of Shrapnel Records, through which so many shredders made their debut), whom phones back quite immediately. Impressed with the material, he wanted to help Mitic getting over to the States to record, by offering him a record deal. That plan fell through due to strict US bans on visas for people coming from that area of the world. The deal is nevertheless signed in 1998, and Mitic starts recording his self-titled sophomore instrumental album, after having relocated to Canada. At about the same time, he gets an offer from Phil Mogg to join UFO as a replacement for Michael Schenker, an offer he had to decline due to the obligations for his solo album. Hitting the stores worldwide in 1999 to positive response from both media and fans, establishing Mitic as an up and coming musician, and earning him endorsements from ESP (guitars), Dean Markley (strings), Maxon,and Guyatone (effects). However the album did not get the backing he’d expected from the label. This combined with the sad news from his home country throw the young musician off balance for about a year. In early 2000 renowned keyboarder Vitalj Kuprij approaches him with an offer to make a duo album, an offer which he accepts…but eventually it’s Tony Macalpine whom gets the job. Having picked up his nerves again, Borislav decides to get his debut album on the worldwide market, and soon after starts working on a new instrumental project. Shrapnel, suggesting a vocal album to better suit the then ruling market tastes, bring Mitic in contact with Las Vegas based singer Chris Logan, and the two start a long distance collaboration, sending each other demos. However, after a year’s work in preparation, Mitic finds out that Logan would be joining MSG in the studio and on the subsequent tour, and not him! Trying to salvage the vocal project, Mitic then gets in touch with Eric Forrest (of Voivod and E-Force) but following some initial collaboration Forrest leaves for France to start a solo career. Disappointed, Mitic puts the vocal project on hold! Then, in 2004, Mitic is invited to his home country for a series of performances…and in spite of his long absence finds his old fans have not forgotten him, in fact some national radio stations have had his music on a permanent rotation. This strengthens his initial feelings about returning to instrumental music. However…meanwhile the situation in the music business has changed drastically due to increased file-sharing and illegal downloading on the Internet. In order to cut future studio expenses, and to get more freedom in creating his music, Mitic then decides to build his own recording facility. An invitation then comes from Vitalj Kuprij to do a guest appearance on his Forward And Beyond album (issued through Lion Music, incidently), an invitation which Mitic replies by putting one of his finest solos in a duel exchange with Kuprij on the track “Message Of Hope”. 2007 sees Mitic collaborate more closely with Maxon and Guyatone, not only by playing several demo presentations, but also by being added to Maxon’s “advisory board” in the development of their new OD9 pro+ overdrive pedal. Quite an honor for Mitic, as his fellow “boarders” included such legendary guitarists as Scott Henderson, Lyle Workman (Sting), Adam Dukiewitz (Killswitch Engage), and Chris Traynor (Helmet). In 2008 Mitic makes an appearance at the NAMM show in Anaheim (California) as demonstrator for American guitar effects distributor Godlyke. He’s also invited to guest on Uli Jon Roth’s Sky Academy and tour, but has to decline the offer due to conflicting schedules. He also contributes two solos to the album of Progressive Metal project Expedition Delta (other guests including Sshadow Gallery’s Gary Wehrkamp), and in 2009 some of Mitic’s songs are featured on the Shrapnel Records compilations This Is Shredding, Vol 2 and Shrapnel’s Super-Shredders : Neoclassical. Which concludes this historical account, and has us return to the man’s new 10-track album. All tracks were written during 2009 and therefore completely new, displaying all possible variations of shredding and (electric) instrumental guitar music, going from Neo-Classical to Thrashy, and what will you have! I couldn’t help hearing the remeniscence to the intro/ chorus guitar riff of Blizard Of Oz’ “Crazy” in Mitic’s track “The Prize Of Eternity”, which is evidently a sorts of tribute to the great Randy Rhoads (mentioned as one of the influences at his MySpace page, by the way, and that alongside Michael Schenker, Joe Satriani, James Hetfield, and Uli Jon Roth)! Also, the Neo-Classical tracks have a remeniscence of Paganini’s sunny disposition and playfulness! In order for you to be able to discover some of his music without having to go out to a record store, Mitic has made available several of his tracks at myspace.com/borislavmitic (I’m afraid only one track off each of his albums) and his own website borislavmitic.com (quite a few off his older albums and participations, but non off the new album…thus far). However, if you’re into instrumental guitar music and shredding, you need not tarry or doubt, but get out to the store immediately to buy the album. For this guy is really a master at his craft, and more than worthy to get his CDs standing in the same line as all of the above mentioned guitar masters! Words like that are of course only spent on the very best, and that’s why you’ll find The Absolute featured in my 2008 year-lists! 98/100 Tony. |