Armed with their most dynamic and ambitious album to date, Jinjer roll into Birmingham tonight on the UK leg of the ‘Duél’ tour, ready to unleash a trademark blend of technical precision, crushing heaviness, and emotional intensity.
It’s a horribly cold, drizzly night outside the O2 Institute, but stepping inside, the warmth and energy is immediately welcome. The venue is rammed, the air thick with heat and anticipation, and the buzz from sharp sets by Dutch prog‑rockers Textures and German modern metallers Unprocessed still lingers. During the final changeover a low hum of expectancy runs through the crowd, as everyone braces for Ukrainian powerhouse Jinjer.
With no pomp, and no ceremony, the band kick in the ferocity of ‘Duél’. Strolling on to take centre stage is Tatiana Shmayluk, magnetic and uncompromising, her vocals swing between soaring melodies and guttural lows. Tonight she wears a striking pink, traditional dress – perhaps unexpected against the brutality of the music, yet only amplifying her presence.
Continuing with tracks from the latest album, ‘Green Serpent’ and ‘Fast Draw’ are prime examples of incredibly heavy songwriting built on precision and dynamic contrast. The low-end presence of Eugene Abdukhanov is a constant force; his deep, elastic bass lines and intricate passages are mesmerising. As he navigates with calm authority, Roman Ibramkhalilov’s cutting riffs and Vladislav Ulasevich’s powerful drumming provide an intense backbone, locking the structures together.
Tatiana’s occasional words of thanks and brief check-ins with the crowd punctuate the set without breaking its momentum. The audience responds in kind, feeding back into the performance. Circle pits ensue, bodies surge and collide, and there’s a constant stream of crowd surfers making their way toward the barrier. The energy in the room never drops, it’s a shared intensity that makes every breakdown hit harder and every chorus soar further.
Dipping into older material, such as ‘Disclosure!’, ‘I Speak Astronomy’ and ‘Perennial’, we get a taste of the band’s evolution, with the more familiar tracks feeling just as fresh, heavy, and sharp, and perhaps even more so than their studio counterparts. Overall, we get a collision of groove, aggression and technical finesse, with an incredible vocal performance that shapes the mood of each track rather than dominating it.
The set barrels toward its finale with ‘Someone’s Daughter’, ‘Rogue’, and ‘Pisces’, each landing with punishing force. Circle pits widen, surfers keep moving, and every corner of the room pulses in unison with the band. Tatiana rides the peaks and troughs of each song with the band locked tight, heavy, and intricate – leaving nothing but total immersion.
Finally, the ferocious ‘Sit Stay Roll Over’ erupts like a challenge thrown down. The pace is relentless, and when the last notes crash to silence, the audience stands spent but exhilarated, witnessing a performance that doesn’t just reproduce Jinjer’s music – it amplifies it: commanding, thrilling, and utterly unmissable.
Review & Photography: Steve Johnston
