To describe the sounds that come out out from JINJER is like describing the color red to a color blind person. It’s hard to explain. One must feel and hear the unorthodox and heavy sounds that come out from this band. The music is hard and powerful with a ton amplified driven guitars and bass and explosive drums infused with growling and melodic vocals that come from a dark mystifying Angel who commands a strong and powerful presence on stage. This is JINJER, A Hard and Heavy Progressive Rock Band from Ukraine whom I had the pleasure of covering for SLR MAGAZINE and finally had the chance to see the entire band perform LIVE on stage. One word: BADASS!
Written by Don Marcelo
I first heard of JINJER in 2020 during lockdown when I accidentally stumbled on their music video, “Pisces.” I see this beautiful and badass female full of tats and heard the cool rhythmic guitar and her sweet angelic voice in the beginning and I was like “Okay, I dig what’s going on”. And then all of a sudden, like getting hit by a SEMI truck, BAM! The GROWL! That GROWL! And I mean that GROWL! AMAZING! WOW! HOLY CRAP! Such sweet melodic and murderous voice! I fell for it right away.
Then in the beginning of 2023, I got the chance to see and photograph moments of Tati as part of The Whisky A Go Go’s Ultimate Jam night as she was the headliner on this night. Let’s just say I became a fan of Tati’s stage presence and powerful performance after seeing her. After that night, I kept on wishing that I get the chance and opportunity to see the entire band perform live on stage and hopefully capture some moments of them playing live.
Sure enought, that manifestation became true. Fast forward onto this day, Friday, October 11, 2024, HOUSE OF BLUES, LAS VEGAS, NV. JINJER, 2024 U.S. NORTH AMERICAN TOUR. Mic Drop!
The evening started off with two Support Acts: BORN OF OSIRIS from Palatine Illinois (a separate report is in the works and photo gallery), and The Mighty HANABIE from Tokyo, Japan (check out my already published reports and the photo gallery of this great band from Japan and do a search for HANABIE).
Both bands ignited the flame for JINJER which made JINJER fans even more excited for the headliner to get on stage.
After both bands were done with their set, The JINJER FANS who waited patiently for JINJER to get on stage on this evening at The House Of Blues were still full of energy after both bands stole some of that JINJER Energy from them. And when they came on, the crowd roared with passion and enthusiasm only one can experience at a ROCK concert.
A cloud of red smoky lights came on as JINJER and Tati (lead vocalist) welcomed the fans and started their set. Full of aggressive harmonies right away as soon as they started to play. JINJER did not disappoint this night and I’m hard to get impressed immediately. Especially the vocals of Tati. Not a lot vocalists (female or male) can sing and growl and endure such strain on one’s vocal chords at the same time and miss hitting any notes. Tati is an exception. She is a total beast full of control with her vocals. This is a gift that she was born with. She is one powerful vocalist. This is one powerful band with great technical expertise through years of hard work and dedication to their craft.
Heavy metal. Metal-core, Prog-Rock is not for everyone. The sounds can either be enjoyable or they can be a turn off due to it’s experimental and artistic form. I am a HARD ROCK guy at heart but I enjoy music of all kinds from Pop to Hip Hop to Alternative Rock to Soft Rock to Hair band metal music to KPOP to JROCK and sometimes even to country music because I’m a music lover and a lover of the arts and musicians. I love artists who are experimental and different because I too am an artist/photographer myself. And I like being different. And this is why I love JINJER because they are different, experimental, hard, and they are artists who think out of the box. One must have an open mind in order to listen to sounds of aggressive experimental Prog Rock metal music in order to appreciate the sounds that come out of JINJER otherwise the music is not for them.
Having said all of these, my experience on this night (along with the opening acts) was one to remember and extremely euphoric and I can finally cross this off on my list. Loved every single moment of this night. I do hope I can see JINJER in the future once again (this time closer to LA). Thank you for the aggressive and hard music JINJER and to the support acts HANABIE and BORN OF OSIRIS. Thanks to Alan (the manager, my Filipino brother from another mother) and to Jon Freeman for making this happen and letting me capture some great moments of JINJER for SLR MAGAZINE. And finally, Thanks to my editor Andris of SLR MAGAZINE. I appreciate all of you.
FOLLOW JINJER on all their socials for more great AGGRESSIVE, PROGRESSIVE HARD METAL CORE MUSIC:
Find more about Jinjer on S.L.R. Magazine
JINJER are:
Tatiana Shmayluk – vocals
Roman Ibramkhalilov – guitars
Eugene Abdukhanov – bass
Vlad Ulasevich – drums
Photo Gallery of the performance by © Don Marcelo Photography 2024
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