Jinjer

Live at the Belasco Theater

Los Angeles, CA

April 19th, 2018

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Jinjer are a progressive death metal band hailing from the Ukraine. They debuted in 2009 and have put out three albums since then, their latest being "King of Everything". This is their first North American tour and since having first discovered them, I have been looking forward to seeing them perform.

Jinjer feature a very heavy bass guitar driven sound with chugging riffs where even the guitars form percussive blasts. They are bordering on djent at times and also bring to bear metalcore and nu-metal influences. They introduce elements of jazz, R&B, and other progressive styles as well, especially in the vocals which are executed flawlessly by Tatiana Shmaylyuk.

Tatiana ranges from beautiful soaring melodies to soul crushing growls and snarls at the drop of a hat, yet retains her own signature sound that allows here to stand with - yet apart from her peers such as Angela Gassow and Alissa White-Gluz.

Joining Tatiana on stage are Roman Ibramkhalilov on guitar, Eugene Abdiukhanov on bass guitar, and Vlad Ulasevich on drums. These three gentleman combine their talents to build a formidable wall of sound that had the crowd headbanging and moshing to their heavy onslaught.

They started off the set with "Who's Gonna Be the One" from the "Cloud Factory" album which was originally released in 2014 but was just re-released on Napalm Records. They followed that up with "Words of Wisdom" from "King of Everything".

"Sit Stay Roll Over" came from that same album and lead up to what is probably their biggest hit partly due to an amazing music video, "I Speak Astronomy".

Tatiana moved about the stage non-stop as she fluctuated between beautiful melodic vocals and deep extreme vocals that are on par with the best in the business. She sported weed-leaf covered athletic pants and a tight half-shirt as she bobbed and jumped around.

They continued the set with "Just Another" followed by "Pisces". Jinjer were touring with Cradle of Filth and it was hard to say how many fans at the sold out show came for or even knew about Jinjer prior but they definitely won over the crowd. People were enthusiastically pumping fists, jumping up and down, or moving in the circle-pit to every song.

"I Want It, I'll Get It" does not appear on any of their releases so far so is either a new song or a cover I didn't recognize. "Captain Clock" from "King of Everything" led into "Outlander" from "Cloud Factory" which brought the set to its closing number, the single "No Hoard of Value".

It was a great set, especially for a supporting act on their first North American outing. I have listened to Jinjer for a number of years now and have been anticipating seeing them live, they certainly did not disappoint. The methodical, driving heaviness of the music combined with Tatiana's unique personality and diversified vocal delivery was definitely awesome and worth checking out.

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