Label: Napalm Records
Release date: October 25, 2019
Production: Max Morton
Album length: 41:12 min
The Ukrainian band Jinjer have become a real sensation in just a few years. Back in 2017, as the opening act for Arch Enemy, they still seemed like just one more solid band with a female vocalist, but their popularity took off soon after. Jinjer showed that a country like Ukraine can have quality bands too. Suddenly Jinjer exploded. Their YouTube videos have millions of views. Who’s to blame for that is hard to say. Above all, the band has good promotion, which Napalm Records also takes care of. And last but not least, there’s the charismatic and talented singer Tatiana Shmailyuk front and center. The biggest question is whether Jinjer could have won people over with their music alone if it had a male vocalist. Most likely not.
Macro is the band’s third album, then. It’s an extension of the EP Micro, which came out before the album. Right from the start, with the track On The Top, Jinjer show they’re not backing down. The song doesn’t offer anything new, though. Jinjer simply confirm their sense of groove and their technique. The structure itself is fairly basic, so there are no major twists. Shmailyuk is already shining, of course. She’s strong with both the growled and the clean vocals. The band definitely has a feel for groove. And even though Jinjer try to work in the odd more progressive element, you can’t exactly put them alongside proper djent bands, despite the use of syncopated riffs. But that doesn’t mean Jinjer can’t surprise. Jinjer have their own style, one you can’t fully predict.
Probably the biggest surprise on the album is the track Judgement, which serves up a reggae-style verse. It’s an interesting experiment, but it doesn’t feel like the most successful one. Still, vocally it comes off as inventive, and it shows Shmailyuk as a truly capable vocalist. The song gets extra dynamics when the parts with fast “blast beat” drumming kick in. A good representative example of the band is the track Retrospection, which shows Jinjer in their calm, brutal and punchy mode. The song is even more gripping because Shmailyuk starts out singing in her native language and then switches to English.
Once the album passes the halfway mark, it feels like Jinjer have pretty much said everything they had to say. As expected, they throw in a slower track like Home Back. They dive back into brutality with The Prophecy. Jinjer close the album with the atmospheric, morbid, electronic track IainnereP. It’s an interesting addition that adds variety, but it also feels like the band rushed the album and had run out of real ideas.
What’s special about Jinjer is that they weave in elements of different genres, and they do it sensibly, without piling things on for no reason. So you can hear metalcore, groove, djent, and even nu metal. The latter gets a mention because certain parts hit hard in the style of Korn, except that Jinjer repackage it all in a more technical way. For now, Jinjer still work by some kind of unconventional formula, but even that could change with fame.
Performance-wise, Jinjer have undoubtedly reached a professional level. You can hear musical breadth and a sense of rhythm. The guitar doesn’t deliver anything outstanding, but the bass and drums are all the more dynamic. The bassist’s standout lines in particular nicely build up the whole, which gives Jinjer yet another distinctive trait. Sound-wise, too, Jinjer come across as modern. In fact, what sets them apart is a pretty polished sound, one you could easily attribute to some modern American band.
With Macro, Jinjer mostly just confirm their status, but there’s no real, noticeable natural progression to speak of. Macro is undoubtedly a solid release, but the band already proved with its predecessor that it’s capable of more. Clearly it’ll take more time to create, but with extensive touring, that’s a pretty tall order.
8/10
Tracklist:
- On The Top
- Pit of Consciousness
- Judgement (& Punishment)
- Retrospection
- Pausing Death
- Noah
- Home Back
- The Prophecy
- lainnereP
Members:
Tatiana Shmailyuk – vocals
Roman Ibramkhalilov – guitar
Eugene Abdukhanov – bass
Vladislav Ulasevish – drums
