Few songs carry the weight of history as palpably as Robert Melkumyan’s “Dice”. This track was born during an incredibly dark chapter in his life and the life of his homeland, with early demos written and recorded during the 2023 blockade—a period defined by war, loss, and isolation, emotions that are vividly reflected in the music.
The song is intimately connected to the devastating events in Artsakh, which faced a war in 2020 and a subsequent blockade from December 2022 that cut off essential supplies to over 120,000 Armenians. The final attack in September 2023 forced the entire Armenian population to evacuate. “Dice” was written during these harsh times, capturing the feelings of everyday life amidst such profound hardship.
Originally demoed in Artsakh using sparse MIDI instruments (later re-recorded with live drums and cello in London, where Melkumyan now studies at ICMP), “Dice” unfolds like a 21st-century “Bohemian Rhapsody”—its 20+ chord progressions mirroring the upheaval of displacement, while its structure shifts from fragile melancholy to explosive catharsis. The lyrics, though abstract, pulse with the grief, defiance, and surreal horror of living through war feel less like a metaphor than a survivor’s testimony.
The production, too, bridges worlds: the rawness of its origins lingers in the vocals, while the London-recorded live instruments add a sweeping, cinematic scale. One moment echoes “Paranoid Android”-style dissonance; the next, a McCarthy-era piano ballad dissolves into dissonant strings.
As the third single leading to his debut album (following “Fast” and “The Upbringing”), “Dice” cements Melkumyan as a once-in-a-generation voice—an artist who transforms geopolitical tragedy into transcendent art. In a just world, this song would dominate airwaves not just for its brilliance, but for the story it dares the West to hear: that of Artsakh’s silenced Armenians.
Robert Melkumyan’s ‘Dice’ is a seismic, soul-rattling epic—part protest, part elegy, and wholly unforgettable. A fearless act of musical testimony born from war and exile
