FEBRUARY 28th 2026
JINJER

 Review By: Martin Storm-Olsen
Photos By: Polina Kulikovskikh
Full Gallery:
http://www.metaltitans.com/concertpics/jinjer/

When Jinjer went on the road between January 2026 and March 2026 it was their first major headline tour in six years. Arriving pretty much right after the doors opened this evening, I met a line stretching far and wide and still expanding after I joined it, giving away that Jinjer has no problems drawing a crowd. It’s certainly not every gig the room is this well filled by the time the first band of three enters the stage like this night. Jinjer was by far the band I was most familiar with beforehand. I had briefly checked out Textures and Unprocessed; enough to recognize the way they were nodding to elements of the main act’s composite genre. Each of them bringing a distinct approach that still fits well within a likely scope for many Jinjer fans.

Textures (NL) started the evening. A tight band, obviously comfortable on stage. From what I had time to check out up front, I thought at first that they would consistently do heavy stuff, but the songs came across a far more varied landscape, from hard rock to metal. Generally a pretty good act to witness when everything clicked. The sound started off quite unbalanced, with bass and drums overpowering the rest, but gradually settled into a more suitable mix, although it felt it could have happened a bit sooner. Keyboards were primarily audible on the more mellow parts, though, despite that the guy on keys was visibly playing on the heavier parts too. All in all not a bad performance, but I have to give the vocals a tad of grime for being off key for some longer stretches along the set.

Unprocessed (GE) was an entirely different act. Instrumental virtuoso vibes with heavy riffing and mix of clean vocals and distorted vocals shared by the main vocalist on guitar and the bass player. Vocals were executed great by both of them. They entered in unassuming unified attire. A white top and light blue pants. From entering the stage, they went straight into obliterating riffing. “Unprocessed delivered a very high-quality set—tight, technically impressive, and with excellent crowd control. ”Great instrument control and overall very high quality and decent song dynamics throughout their set.

Unprocessed did an amazing job and, pun intended, was a well processed, oiled machinery of a band. Nitpicky, I could have wished for the mix to have allowed for more low mids and lows in the guitars, especially on their 8-string songs, where they were mixed very thin. I don’t fault the band for that at all, though. They knew their stuff.

Ever since Jinjer (UA) entered my radar, they have always stood out to me from a technical performance view. Highly technical playing and a vocalist that carries a lot of the band’s weight as far as giving them a signature expression with her mix of cleans and growls. The live show did not shy away from fronting that either, with the instrumentalists wearing neutral black and primarily standing outside the spotlight while Tatiana Shmayluk came out in a pink dress with curly, loose hair. I’ve heard rumors that she does not like to think of Jinjer as a female fronted band, but it’s hard not to see it like that or at the very least as a band strongly fronted and focused on the singer that happens to be her, and she happens to be a woman, if that makes it better?

Experiencing a Jinjer show you’ll quickly learn that this is a band more than capable of performing what you hear on recordings to the letter. I have mixed feelings about parts of their catalog, but everything simply can’t be for everyone. Some of their material risks floating a bit too much together as one long track of riffing and technical prowess without a proper “hook” to me. Personally, it’s when they dig into their tendencies of genre blending that I feel they do something really striking and unique. In that regard, Judgement stands out as one of the earlier tracks I heard of Jinjer, and it is still a staple to me of their capability. It’s an absolute banger and one of their strongest examples of that versatility, going from the low key reggae-nodding verse to the heavy rhythm focused chorus with a great chorus melody on top. It’s not the only one by far, just one of the best examples to bring up, and I hope they never stop exploring that landscape.

Last year’s album, Duél, holds some decent tracks as well. Like the title track, Duél (that opened the night), “Hedonist”, “Green Serpent” and the slower “Someone’s Daughter”. Given that this is their latest release, it was no surprise that a majority of the tracks off of the release were present this evening along with these, carefully mixed with other hits from most across their catalog.

What I liked about the live show was seeing how it all was put together. The drummer’s podium in the middle of a giant screen running graphics connected and synced to each song, how they chose song order seemingly in a way that allowed for individual solo time in the spotlight for each of the instrumentalists at very suitable times during the set. Well deserved spotlight time along with Shmayluk too, as they are indeed a band and not just their lead singer. As far as live performance goes, they were a fairly active bunch on stage, nothing too crazy, though. Perhaps no need to be either? They also made due with no extra backing tracks as far as I could tell. With only one guitarist they still managed to sound pretty huge.Thanks to the active and carefully thought out playing strategies of the bass player the two compliment each other very well. And I need to mention the drummer, Vladislav Ulasevich, more than just his podium. I’ve never seen anyone have their cymbals as low as him sitting just barely above the kick and toms. Not a critique, as he was more than capable of playing this setup, but an observation. Built for proximity and speed? And kudos for having such a close sound to the snappy album snare live.

To sum up and sign off; This was a pretty much flawless live performance. Almost to the level of being a too streamlined production. With music that is often technical and frantic it could actually have been loosened up a bit. Very, very professionally done, though. I personally must say, having a flawless vocal performance overall with the blend of growls and cleans, it pleased me to hear Shmayluk slightly adjust a clean note here and there. Not taking away from the standards being super high in any way or shape, just simply proving that she’s actually human which moreover counts as a plus.