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Archive for the ‘JInjer’ Category

Jinjer (Starland Ballrom, Sayreville, NJ, September 20, 2024)

Posted in Hanabie, JInjer, Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom, Ukraine on September 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 20, 2024] Jinjer

I’ve seen Jinjer twice.  Last time, after the show I wrote:

Now that I’ve seen “Pisces,” I don’t think I need to see Jinjer again.  In fact, I’m probably not going to go to too many more metal shows.  I think I’ve seen everyone I wanted to.

Pisces was the song that introduced me to them and Tatiana Shmailyuk’s incredible voice.  She can sing beautiful soaring melodies and then on a dime turn into a scary growling monster.  It’s fascinating on record but it is mind blowing to see live.

So I wasn’t really sure I wanted to see them again, but I was inspired by the opening band Hanabie to go see them again.  And I’m so glad I did. This was the closest I’d been to them and it was great being that close to Eugene Abdukhanov on bass. The previous tow times, I was on guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov’s side but I’d really admired the bass work on these songs.  So it was very cool to see just how complicated his bass rhythms were.

Ibramkhalilov has a great sound–shifting from quiet picking to heavy chords, but it was a little lost on my side of the stage (I noticed it more on some of the recordings I took).  Drummer Vladislav Ulasevich also adds wonderful fills and stops and starts to add drama to the songs.  He was even louder than the last time I think–I needed to put the earplugs in deeper toward the end. (more…)

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Hanabie [花冷え。] (Starland Ballrom, Sayreville, NJ, September 20, 2024) [JINJER]

Posted in 花冷え。, Hanabie, Japanese Music, JInjer, Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom, Ukraine on September 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 20, 2024] Hanabie

I have seen Jinjer twice.  I didn’t really think about this tour until I checked out the opening acts.  I hadn’t heard of Hanabie, but when I looked them up I was blown away and was really excited to see them live,

I actually assumed that they would go on first since they are so much newer of a band than Born of Osiris.  But I was delighted to find out that BOO was on first so we could relax and enjoy the fun.

Hanabie [花冷え。] is a Japanese band known for combining loud and heavy music with contrasting Harajuku aesthetics in a style self-described as “Harajuku-core.”  They have been around since 2015 (when they started as a Maximum The Hormone cover band).  They have clean vocals and unclean vocals and the most fascinating thing is that singer Yukina does both!  She sings in an incredibly high almost cartoonish voice and then shifts to a growl that would impress anyone.

Guitarist Matsuri also sings– and has a lovely voice.  She often sings super catchy chorus and bridge parts while Yukina adds to them.  Bassist Hettsu also sings and has a lovely clean vocal style.  The three of them together are a dynamic force.

Drummer Chika is the only new member (they’ve had several drummers over the years).  I couldn’t see her at all because she was positioned on the far side of the stage/  Which was quite a bummer.

But Yukina, Matsuri and Hettsu were certainly enjoyable enough to watch.  They ran back and forth between stations, completely engaging with the crowd.  The few times that Yukina came over by us, you could see her making faces at people in the crowd.

Their set was so much fun–full of energy and excitement.  I particularly liked that they had so many high sounds–in a genre that is usually devoted to low frequencies.  Between the high vocals and some of the electronics it really made for a dynamic show.  I’m not sure how they all are (mid 20s, I guess?) but they had so much energy, bouncing and jumping around the stage.

And their fashion sense was pretty great too.

They were a great opening act and I would absolutely see them again–I hope as a headliner.

2024
Metamorphose! §
Ware Amatou ⊗
Reiwa Matching-sedai ⊗
O•TA•KU Lovely Densetsu §
NEET GAME ♥
Kotoshi koso Gal~Shoka ver.~ ♥
GIRL’S TALK §
Tales of Villain ♥
TOUSOU ♥
Osaki ni Shitsurei Shimasu ♥

§ single (2024)
♥ Reborn Superstar (2023)
⊗ Girl’s Reform Manifest (2021)

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Born of Osiris (Starland Ballrom, Sayreville, NJ, September 20, 2024) [JINJER]

Posted in Born of Osiris, Hanabie, Japanese Music, JInjer, Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom, Ukraine on September 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 20, 2024] Born of Osiris

I’ve seen Jinjer twice and I didn’t really think I needed to see them again.  But they announced this show at Starland Ballroom and I was intrigued by one of the openers, Hanabie.  I hadn’t heard of Born of Osiris.

Turns out Born of Osiris is a metalcore band that’s been around for over fifteen years.  Interestingly, the band’s first two records were more or less created and played by the band’s mastermind and drummer, Cameron Losch.

Their set was very loud–so loud that it was hard to distinguish anything.  I wasn’t really all that interested in anything they played.   There were a few moments that included some electronics but mostly it was just bludgeoning and intense metal.

I found it kind of dull, actually.  It amused me that the singer kept trying to get people really psyched–I’m assuming that they have played headlining shows in the last fifteen years.  But every time they pointed the floodlights to the crowd, it kept showing an empty floor.  Part of the problem for them was that the website said they were going on at 7:30, but they went on at 7:10 and Starland is notoriously bad about slow entry.

There were some people who enjoyed it, but compared to the dynamic nature of the next two bands, they seemed really rather plodding.

This was the setlist from a show a few days later.  I assume it was the same.

 

2024
Open Arms to Damnation §
Bow Down §
Elevate ¥
Empires Erased §
Abstract Art §
Angel or Alien ♥
A Mind Short Circuiting ¥
In Desolation ¥
Machine ⊗

¥ single (2024)
♥ Angel or Alien (2021)
⊗ Tomorrow We Die Alive (2013)
§ The New Reign EP (2007)

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Jinjer (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 23, 2022)

Posted in JInjer, P.O.D., Philadelphia, PA, Space of Variations, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Theatre of Living Arts, Ukraine, Vended on November 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 23, 2022] Jinjer

I saw Jinjer almost exactly one year ago to the day.  It was also the night before Thanksgiving (that’s kind of weird, no?}

When they announced this show I bought a ticket immediately.  Last year, there was no war in Ukraine.  There was no crisis or concern.  This year, I wanted to support them and their country.  I didn’t even really pay attention to the rest of the bill.

P.O.D. (really?), Vended and from Ukraine, Space of Variations.

I didn’t want to see any of these other bands (well, maybe Space of Variations).  And I didn’t want to spend two and a half hours standing around listening to bands I didn’t really want to hear.

So I thought I might not go.  But I listened to some Jinjer and decided that I did want to see them after all.  Especially when I saw that they were playing “Pisces” on this tour (which they didn’t play for us last time). (more…)

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Jinjer (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, November 24, 2021)

Posted in JInjer, Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of Living Arts, Ukraine on November 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 24, 2021] Jinjer

I first heard JInjer when I saw a video for their song “Pisces.”  The song starts out slow and melodic with Tatiana Shmaylyuk singing in a quiet, lovely voice.  At the one minute mark, the songs shifts to a heavy off-kilter riff and Shmaylyuk unleashes a guttural growl that you absolutely assume is from someone off screen–but it’s not.  [Check out hilarious vocal coach reaction videos].

So I wanted to see Jinjer to experience Shmayluk’s voice in person.  But I was absolutely blown away by the rest of the band.

Jinjer is from Ukraine and I don’t know how often they come to the U.S., but there were some really die hard fans there.  The band’s lineup has changed quite a lot over the years, but since 2016, the lineup has reamined Roman Ibramkhalilov on guitar, Eugene Abdukhanov on bass and Vladislav Ulasevich on drums.

Their sound is quite heavy, but with lots of moments of quieter, pretty melodies.  Indeed, they play really complicated rhythms and time changes, with terrific riffs and bass lines.  The drummer also adds a lot of percussive sounds to the songs making them a band where it’s hard to know who to watch. (more…)

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All Hail the Yeti (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, November 24, 2021) [JINJER]

Posted in All Hail the Yeti, JInjer, Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of Living Arts on November 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 24, 2021] All Hail the Yeti / Suicide Silence

I arrived a little early for this show (for a change–TLA usually has me running late looking for parking).  And it took forever the first band to go on.  I was sure something was going on.

Then it was announced that Suicide Silence tested positive for COVID and would not be on stage that night.  I actually assumed that I’d be going home early, but no, I guess the headliner is scheduled to go on at 9:30 or whatever and that’s what they’re going to do.  Which makes sense.

So All Hail the Yeti came out with their cool stage gear and I assume played a longer set than they might normally.  Yes, it looks like they played three more songs at our show.

There are four members in the band: Connor Garritty – lead vocals;  Nicholas Diltz – bass, backing vocals; Ryan “Junior” Kittlitz – drums and  Dave Vanderlinde – guitars.  And behind each member (more or less) was a giant banner with a rune on it.  Each rune looked more or less like the initials of the band.  Which was pretty neat.

Each band member had some kind of Viking paint on.  I was in front of guitarist Vanderlinde and the top of his forehead was painted white with a rune painted on top.  Lead singer Garrity had his long hair in a pony tail and had on a kind of modified corpse paint to make his eyes really stand out.  He sand in a kind of guttural style but was clearly audible.  Bassist Diltz had long bleached blond hair an a full beard and sang in a really lovely high voice–an excellent contrast and I actually preferred his vocals.

All of this is leading up to the surprising realization that they are from California and not Scandinavia.

They had some good diversity in their sounds, with some heavy grooves and then some simply heavy sounds.  But they also had some fantastic harmonizing like on “After the Great Fire.”

The one song that annoyed me though was “Witch is Dead.”  It started out kind of fun with them singing the “ding dong the witch is dead” children’s song but in their heavy style.  I thought it was pretty fun, until he had to rhyme it with “the fucking bitch is dead,” and I felt there was a little too much misogyny going on in that line–he seemed to relish it too much.

But if I overlook that I otherwise really enjoyed their set.  Their sound was great and their look, while elaborate wasn’t too far over the top to be comical.

  1. Suicide Woods ¥
  2. Headless Valley ⊗
  3. Slow Season ≠
  4. The Art of Mourning ¥
  5. Bury Your Memory ⊗
  6. Witch Is Dead §
  7. Before the Flames §
  8. Funeral Heart ⊗
  9. After the Great Fire ¥
  10. Mr. Murder §
¥ All Hail the Yeti (2012)
§ Screams from the Black Wilderness (2016)
≠ Highway Crosses (2018)
⊗ Within the Hollow Earth EP (2021)

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