Jinjer - Micro (EP Review)

Metal is not a genre of music I particularly identify with but this is a piece of work that excels at pushing the boundaries and keeping you on your toes with what to expect, throwing you off guard but constantly entertaining through their use of unusual drum rhythms, experimentation and overall phenomenal vocals from lead singer Tatiana, a woman in metal delivering some of the most expressive and dynamic vocals.

Jinjer are a Ukrainian metalcore band that, since forming in 2009, have released three full-length albums and three extended plays, with "Micro" being their most recent and probably their most progressive work yet, with their most emotive and thought-provoking lyrics to date wrapped up in aggressive but precise vocal delivery from the two vocalists, with Tatiana leading and being the obvious standout. Delving deep here results in total submersion in some of these topic matters such as evolution and innate human flaws; child abuse and neglect; society and the education system and more.

 It's definitely an exploratory metal release, thematically and musically as many of the songs contain savage-sounding bass and guitar combinations making for some vigorous and wild riffing executed with such precision it makes the brute force hit even harder, without falling subject to the many metal clichés that so many bands in a similar vein fall victim to and fail as a result of. Jinjer never do this, they are consistently chugging out invigorating, raging music with real motives and reasons behind their cleverly intelligent aggressive lyricisms. On top of all this they provide some truly excellent and emphatic drum moments that standout particularly on "Teacher, teacher!", a song that reminds me in certain aspects to some of Julian Casablancas's most pretentious work but executed in a more effective and affecting way.

I have such high praise for this band and I think that their latest EP is definitely their best work, something that I hope will pave the way forward for more modern metal bands to choose this direction to progress this genre's sounds and take the music to much needed new heights. Overall, Jinjer achieve a solid 9 out of 10 on their brilliant brand new EP "Micro"; I'm very excited to see what more this eclectic and progressive band have in store for us next!

Best Songs:
Ape, Dreadful Moments, Teacher Teacher, Perennial, Micro

Worst Song/s:
N/A