siLLy puPPy JINJER (pronounced like “ginger”) started out as a melodic metalcore band having formed in Gorlovka near Donetsk, Ukraine in 2009 but has evolved into a more progressive metalcore band in the vein of bands like Between The Buried And Me. After releasing the debut EP “Objects in Mirror Are Closer than They Appear,” the band struggled to find its own distinct sound until the addition of bassist Eugene Abdukhanov, lead guitarist Roman Ibramkhaliov and new lead singer Tatiana Shmailyuk.

The fist release to come out with this lineup was the EP titled INHALE, DON’T BREATHE which originally featured seven tracks but subsequent versions also included three extra live bonus tracks. For whatever reason the EP only shows five tracks on JINJER’s Bandcamp page. At this stage JINJER featured no progressive features in its compositions and squarely fit into the world of melodic metalcore with a groove metal flow including a few deviations into alternative rock during brief slower moments. The most distinct feature of the band is probably the fact that this style of extreme metal is fronted by a female singer.

This band has been quite popular in its native Ukraine as it became more varied over its three album run but at this point the band had pretty much only gotten its head around being a band and was content simply sailing in the groove fueled metalcore style that served as an underpinning of its later releases and the band wouldn’t really take off until 2016’s “KIng Of Everything.” Not much to say about this one. The tracks are a bit too similar as the same groove and chord progressions pretty much haunt every track and the same tradeoff between clean and shouted extreme vocals never deviates from the plan.

I can’t say this is my favorite style of metal first of all but i can appreciate some good metalcore that infuses heavy doses of creativity in unexpected ways however JINJER does none of that one this early offering and wouldn’t really branch out for a few more years. For my ears this is a pretty average if not dull example of melodic metalcore that sounds very amateurish and uninspiring however there is nothing absolutely horrible either. It’s just that there is no variation between tracks and the one-trick pony show gets old very quickly. Probably interesting for true fans of the band who need to explore the origins but honestly i don’t like the band’s name, don’t like its sound and am confident i’ll never be retreading this generic grounds again.

Nightfly King Of Everything is the second album from Ukrainian metal band Jinjer. The band combines metalcore with groove metal and dare I use the word, djent.

The band are great players and lay down some complex grooves but their biggest strength lies in vocalist Tatiana Shmailyuk who has a beautifully expressive and powerful voice when singing in clean tones. She can also scream and growl with the best of them but becomes more anonymous in this mode. Despite the fact that the album gets a bit samey at times with relentless staccato riffs the ten songs are largely enjoyable with some strong hooks. They’re certainly at their best when Tatiana sings cleanly adding some melody over the largely percussive nature of the material. Fortunately she uses her clean vocals quite a lot but I’d be more than happy to hear her sing like this all the time. The band does let up on the barrage of riffs occasionally – mainly towards the end, Pisces being a prime example, injecting some welcome mellower moments and colour. The short Beggar’s Dance that closes the album is a surprise and has a jazz feel with a bossa nova groove. Whilst leaving metal territory a bit more of this sort of thing could have benefited the album quite a lot by adding more variation.

Overall then King Of Everything is a very good and enjoyable album but does give away most of its secrets on the first listen and a few standout tracks could have nailed it for them. Definitely a band worth keeping an eye on in the future though.