Review of "Alice's" album "Goyda"

The group "Alice" released their 23rd studio album "Goyda". 65-year-old Konstantin Kinchev wrote 16 songs together with his bandmates, and also used a poem by Alexei Tolstoy, which fit perfectly into today's artistic world of "Alice". Listened to the album Igor Gavrilov.

It is wrong to consider any music album primarily in the context of the current political agenda, but in the case of the new album of the group “Alice”, such a view is dictated by its very name - “Goyda”. Whichever association comes to mind first—the famous speech of Ivan Okhlobystin, “The Day of the Oprichnik” by Vladimir Sorokin, or the original cry-interjection of the times of Ivan the Terrible—it is clear that Konstantin Kinchev finally decided to pour out on the listener all the so-called topic of the day.

In 2021, in his solo album “White Noise,” Kinchev recalled himself as a reckless, witty and multifaceted author who understands everything about his age, but keeps his powder dry. He did not allow himself such liberties anymore. In the fall of 2022, the album “Dudka” was released, in which the usual riff action songs of “Alice” alternated with ballads with folk chants that were equally characteristic of the group. The texts of “Dudka” were for the most part a reaction to the coronavirus suffered by the author, the global anti-Covid campaign and restrictions that turned into a way of control.

“Goyda” is a direct reaction to the events of 2022–2024, but is by no means as straightforward and one-dimensional as that of his colleagues who are part of the recognized patriotic circle.

The text of the title song of the album “Goyda” does not at all reproduce newspaper editorials, and these lines can be interpreted in different ways. “Russians have no coasts” - does this mean that Russia does not end anywhere? Or is it about the vastness of character and actions? Most likely, both: Kinchev likes such paradoxes. His motherland “closed its eyes,” and “Russian against Russian” went “not out of malice, out of stupidity.” “Brotherly lawlessness burns the dead souls,” the song states and lists the basic principles of existence here: “maybe it will blow over again,” “neither full nor drunk,” “it will do.” The story moves in a circle, and the lyrical hero of the song can only take it for granted. In one of the rare interviews in recent years given to Argumenty Nedeli, Kinchev calls himself “a mystic, susceptible to all conspiracy theories,” and, from his point of view, the time has not yet come for pressing questions of power and the state: “During the war, I think It’s wrong to ask these questions.”

By and large, Kinchev’s political and religious beliefs did not change. In the literary field he is still looking for new routes. Sometimes he develops his own ideas (listeners are already arguing about the connection of the song “The Sixth Convoy” with the classic “The Sixth Forester”), sometimes he intrigues with poetic twists, without fear of accusations of redundancy of stanzas and images. In addition, “Alice” finally recorded her old song “Court” in electric sound based on the poems of Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The text about Stepan Razin’s comeback is full of chilling details; it fits perfectly both the “rock and roll free spirit” of “Alice” of the 1980s and the “metal” “Alice”. The horror in the text of the “red count” is no weaker than in the songs of Black Sabbath. And musically, “The Court” is a continuation of the epic ballad tradition of Russian rock, started by Alexander Bashlachev and “Kalinov Most”.

Online commentators, who managed to disassemble the album “Goida” to its bones, note that the influence of Black Sabbath is felt in the title song, as well as in “Word of Love”, “Lancet”, “Touching the Fire” and a number of other tracks. Some people pay attention to literal quotes, and “Alice” is sensitive to such accusations. For example, when listeners found in the song “Fear and Control” from the album “Dudka” similarities with the classic Metallica song “Master of Puppets”, “Alice” guitarist Pavel Zelitsky was not too lazy to record a whole video with an analysis of the guitar parts of both songs as a response to evil tongues . In the album “Goida”, meticulous listeners have already found not only Black Sabbath, but also Korn, Pantera, Die Krupps, Faith No More and, of course, Rammstein, comparisons with which “Alice” cannot escape in the last twenty years. One can, of course, say that critics confuse plagiarism with the atmosphere of hard and heavy and alternative rock, and this atmosphere, this alphabet was created, of course, by both Black Sabbath and Rammstein, and “Alice” only uses letters. However, the “dictionary”, if we talk about music, turns out to be very poor.

Heavy music itself is going through hard times all over the world. The fathers of hard and heavy music are, as they say, in their declining years, and few of them have ambitions to make this music relevant again. They are loyal to their fans and think about them first, and the fans reciprocate. "Alice" has the same story, and it is cyclical. At the beginning of the year, having released one or two new songs, the group announces crowdfunding and collects funds for a new album, and fans willingly get involved in the process. The album comes out and doesn’t disappoint anyone, because no one expects miracles.

In fact, Alice’s albums for many years have been not so much a communication between listeners and music, but an attraction of fan loyalty.

It’s cool to be part of something big and strong - this is what the songs of “Alice” and the life of any torsida are about.