Jinjer

Live at The Whisky a Go Go

West Hollywood, CA

November 16th, 2018

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Jinjer return to North America for their second time in the United States, and in just under a year from their first foray. The amazing Ukrainian band combines the stylings of metalcore, progressive metal, groove metal, and death metal all in one sweet package but to sum them up as such would not do them justice in the least.

At the forefront is the talented and beautiful Tatiana Shmailyuk. Her voice extends beyond just octave range as she moves from entrancing melodic serenades infused with soulful jazz and blues stylings to crushing growls and screams that will rival any death metal vocalist regardless of gender.

She is joined on stage by three gentlemen bringing the raw metal power with Roman Ibramkhalilov on guitar, Eugene Abdiukhanov on bass guitar, and Vladislav Ulasevich on drums. Like their leading lady, they also move between genres and musical styles, feeding djent heavy madness into more progressive structures that match Tatiana's voice perfectly.

The Whisky was sold out and jammed from floor to balcony with fans anticipating Jinjer's show. Technically they were the opening act for Devil Driver but gaging from how much of the audience were wearing Jinjer merch and singing to all the songs, I would say that the majority of the turn-out was for these Ukrainian wonders.

The band took the stage right on time and the audience let out a massive cheer. They started off the set with the fan-favorite, "Words of Wisdom" from their last full-length album, "King of Everything". The at-capacity venue began moving to the music, and the entire building felt like it was moving with them.

Jinjer have a new release on the way but the first single is already out online. Fans were singing along to "Ape" from the upcoming "Micro" EP which made the band really happy to see their new material so well received.

My personal favorite of theirs is the epic "I Speak Astronomy", which was even better this time around. Tatiana's voice is really incredible in both of its extremes. She looked amazing this night as well, wearing a camouflage halter-top dress with slits up both sides revealing the entirety of her gorgeous gams.

I was not familiar with the next song so it might be part of the forthcoming EP but the set list had a song called "Dreadful Moments" right around this area. Looking forward to hearing it again in the near future.

"Pisces" is a song that has garnered a lot of attention online, both the original video and live videos. This song illustrates what is so special about Tatiana's talents as she moves between melodic breakdowns to ultra aggressive verse. Like the two fish swimming in opposite directions that are at it's name-sake, the dichotomy of her voice is what draws people to her like moths to a flame.

"King of Everything" is their third full length release since their inception, and aside from the brand new material, was where they were pulling all of their song selections from this evening. "Just Another" continued their coverage of this release and had the fans struggling to get a circle pit going due to there being no where for anyone to move on account of the massive turnout.

They touched upon one of their previous albums for the first time with "Who's Gonna Be the One", coming off of the recently re-released "Cloud Factory". The crowd responded emphatically as Tatiana would crouch down to interact with those fans lucky enough to be in the front row.

They hit upon another song that I was unfamiliar with but referring to a set list from another stop on the tour I think it may have been "Perennial", potentially another new song and it sounded great live.

Tatiana said they had come to their last song which brought audible disappointment from the rapt audience. Tatiana shrugged with a "what you gonna do?" They closed out the set with "Sit Stay Roll Over" from "King of Everything" which had the entire crowd banging their heads and thrusting their fists in the air.

As the song came to a close the fans screamed for one more but their time was up so they waved good night and took their leave. It was an amazing show that left everyone wanting more. Next time they come it would be amazing if they could do a headlining tour so we could see a few more songs.

Jinjer are absolutely enthralling, the magic that Tatiana weaves on stage is palpable and unanimous. After they finished their set the conversations professing their love for her were everywhere; in the beer lines, the bathroom lines, and exiting into the street at night.

Click the banner above

to return the navigation page of the

Virtual Night Angel

website