Review and Photos: DJ
When Ukranian Groove Metal sensation Jinjer started to break ground in the Metal scene a few years ago, their visceral story of survival in a war-torn country, chaos, and confusion only validated their music even more. Not that it needed any validation but understanding their story; how they got here, and where they seem to be headed, is quite the journey.
From packing your things and moving away because of eminent signs of war, or scraping the barrel when you are broke just trying to make it on the road as a struggling musician, the continued conflict in Ukraine where they still have family, is quite overwhelming. But through all of this many of the band members are humble folks who take it all in stride. And better yet they put a lot of that aggression and feelings they have experienced in all of this, into some truly crushing Metal. Singer Tatiana Shmayluk is quite something on stage, her electrifying energy is intoxicating live.
Bass player Eugene Abdukhanov spoke about recent successes, but also on their highly anticipated follow-up to their last record “Wallflowers”. Most of the album has been written, they will hit the studio soon after touring. The band in itself seems to be in a good place at the moment, and living on the road recently opening for Disturbed, they broke away for a few very selective headlining shows, and what a treat this one was.
Lucky for you if you are the happy souls who get an extended headling set from Jinjer. We did and it was a hard crushing blast. But before they come on, we are told that whatever the opening band was, they couldn’t make it. So we had to wait until 7:45 for Monuments, the British Prog/Djent Metalcore outfit. Honestly, I have not kept in touch with them too much, but I do recall the lineup changes they have had over the last few years. Their last release came in 2022 titled “In Stasis” which was a pretty good album almost as good as “The Amanuensis”. As far as performances go, these guys are also pretty typically loud, and heavy as hell. Singer Andy Cizek just looks like he’s having the time of his life out there. They warmed the hell out of the night with a flesh-pounding performance. To me, I believe “Nefarious” and “Lavos” are pretty damn cool melodic tunes. They put on a nice set.
The road crew quickly gets things ready and Jinjer comes on stage with singer Tatiana hits the stage you feel like you have sweated 5 pounds already. The whole band sounds tight as nails, and with a trippy light set in the background, they bring their assault. You know when bands are tight, the whole set just flows like butter. This is Jinjer, featuring a powerhouse vocalist, an intense rhythm section, and some damn proggy grooves man. From “Perennial” to “Pisces” to the head crusher “As I Boil Ice” they sustain the same level of intensity throughout their set.
On Shmayluk, is not an easy task changing vocals from growls to clean throughout the set, many can’t pull that off that easily. Give her big-time credit for her stage presence and vocal prowess. But again the whole band just clicks very well live, creating a pile driving and melodic delivery. Very cool night with tons of material that touches on their overall catalog. It is very clear to see why they made so many waves overseas before it eventually caught on here in the States.
If you are lucky to catch them live on the road with the select headlining dates mentioned earlier, consider yourself very lucky indeed. Hopefully, we will have new material early next year as it will be a very highly anticipated release for certain.
JINJER is:
Tatiana Shmayluk – Vocals
Roman Ibramkhalilov – Guitars
Eugene Abdukhanov – Bass
Vlad Ulasevich – Drums
JINJER North American Tour Dates:
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