Grazhdanskaya Oborona
Русское поле экспериментов

THE REVIEW

Sometimes there are albums that are impossible to fully understand without carefully analyzing the context in which they were made, and Русское Поле Экспериментов is one of these. We are talking about the Soviet Union in the late 80s: censorship, communist ideals, and a government nearing collapse. It was precisely during this period that this album was released. It is important to remember that at the time, the first foreign albums began to spread among the population, but they were often limited by censorship. The GrOb, driven by their desire to emulate some of their idols, decided to start this project in '85. In Русское Поле Экспериментов, their idea was to create something never heard before at home: a wall of sound with post-punk influences, exotic percussion, double (sometimes triple) guitars filled with distortions, and basses not tied to the melody. Unconventional instruments and some physical tape manipulations are often used. All of this was recorded in basements on magnetic tapes to avoid censorship and deportation, which was highly likely at the time. The lyrics "sung" by a singer who only learned to scream without tearing his vocal cords are obviously influenced by the situation they found themselves in. They speak of politics, religion, current events, always remaining provocative and revolutionary. Some tracks were even born after the suicide of the former guitarist Дмитрий Селиванов. Surely their best work (only matched by Здорово и Вечно) and a classic of Russian music. In 30 minutes, it manages to convey all the dirt and corruption of the Soviet government of the time. Surely more faithful to the line of CCCP.