Album Review: Jinjer - Macro
Reviewed by Carl Black
There comes a time in a band career, if they are lucky enough, when they reach a crossroads. One path of the crossroads is to remain in the metal scene. Loved and adored by the metal crowd and play to small but passionate crowds. The other branch of the crossroads takes them to mainstream stardom, liked by many and headlining arenas. Both are treacherous. Stay within the metal scene and face being swallowed by a dying scene, take the stardom approach and fear the wrath of the fans who have put you there in the first place.
Jinjer have been knocking around the metal scene for a few years now. Many fans have become interested in them of late, and with good reason. They have been doing all the right things by planting seeds along the way, which has led them to this particular crossroads. But which path have they chosen?
Jinjer have remained a heavy band. This album is not for mass consumption. It is a djent / groove album that mashes up Meshuggah with Lamb of God. The riffs are technical, hard-hitting and precise. Jinjer will remain metal’s biggest secret for the time being. This is not a bad thing or criticism. They will continue to see the seeds they have planted grow along their way. These seeds will grow into bigger trees and bigger and better opportunities will be opened to them with this record as it is extremely well produced and excellently executed.
The secret weapon within the band is definitely the singer Tatiana Shmailyuk. She is equally good with her growling vocals as she is with her clean singing. Other bands have to employ two members of the band to execute this feat, but not Jinjer.
The first single, 'Judgement (& Punishment)' is a little confusing to listeners if this is what they are expecting. A dub/reggae verse with a beatdown chorus. This is not indicative of what is on the rest of the album. The rest of the album is full on and this is the only point that Macro becomes anything near commercially acceptable.
Jinjer will remain ours for the time being. I’m extremely interested to see whether they take their foot off the heavy and progressive gas and apply some commercial break in the future. If and when they decide to apply the commercial break we’ll have to send them on their merry way and give them to the rest of the world as we have done with so many other great bands. When this happens I do believe that Jinjer deserve the accolades and benefits from reaching mega stardom. We could possibly see our next big Stadium filler or download headliner, see them now before they go Bon Jovi on us.
Jinjer release 'Macro' on 25th October via Napalm Records.
