Review: Maxim – That We Say (Drum N Bass)

This review covers the liquid drum n bass track Maxim – That We Say.

This track was released in 2015 on the compilation album Alchemy. We previously reviewed the track T & Sugah feat. Ayve – Unreal which was also on this album and it scored pretty well. So, we thought we’d give this track a listen to see how it plays.

The track starts off with a general synth melody as well as some chords that fade in and out. Generally speaking, something like this is usually a good start for a track in my view. After this, the track utilizes some chopped voice samples that might have a bit of vocoding going on. After that, the track sounds more like an actual drum n bass track.

From here, the track goes back and forth between voice sample and melody. This is a pretty decent sound overall and I’m liking what I hear. The drop then hits, though it is a much more subtle drop as the synth melody plays throughout. I found this to be a rather creative play from a production standpoint, so I’m now thinking the track is going to get into something interesting.

The build-up is a little bit shorter than most, but I don’t mind it this much. For me, the track starts to fall a little flat after this because the track really doesn’t do anything interesting or different beyond what I’ve heard before the drop. Because there isn’t much of a drop, the musical range is noticeably more narrow. For high energy, this isn’t that much of a problem most of the time. For low energy tracks, this is also fine, but I’m looking for some variances in what I hear (i.e. a new synth melody, a newly introduced voice sample, etc.). In this track, that doesn’t actually happen, so the track gets a little flat for me.

After this, the track does a final breakdown. I thought the breakdown is very nicely thought through as it ties up the track quite nicely.

After hearing the track in full, the thought I have in my mind is that this track does have some nice vibes. It gives off a rather pleasant mood overall, but it’s not exactly the most memorable in my books. As a result, I would imagine this track fills the roll as a filler track quite nicely when you have stronger and more high energy tracks in the mix. This is the kind of track that allows for a bit of a musical breather. Unfortunately, I’m not really feeling this track too much otherwise as anything to get excited over.

Overall, this is a decent track that has its uses. If you want something relaxing with a bit of a positive vibe, this is a very workable track. If you have are listening to a bunch of high energy tracks and want to add some filler that allows for a bit of a breather for your ears, this track also fills the roll quite well. Otherwise, it’s not exactly the most memorable track in the world. It does have a nice beginning and end, but the middle does fall a little flat for me. So, I would say you could do a whole lot worse than this track, but you can also do a lot better as well. Fairly decent, but if you miss it, you aren’t missing a whole lot.

Score
6.5/10

Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.