JINJER - Wallflowers - Album Review
Pictured: Eugene Kostyuk, Vladislav Ulasevish, Tatiana Shmayluk + Roman Ibramkhalilov - JINJER
Photo by: Alina Chernohor @_che.lina
A Wall of Sound that Blooms
Written by: Rod Whitfield - Independent
Some album titles are highly appropriate, deftly describing the content of the album whose cover the title graces. Other album titles, hmmmm…not so much. Take the new, and fourth, full-length album from Ukrainians JINJER for instance. A ‘wallflower’ is a person or entity that is unregarded, that sits in the background due to shyness or unpopularity. That is virtually the complete and utter, night and day, polar opposite of what this album is.
The Review
Right from the get-go, right from the moment opener Call Me a Symbol explodes from the speakers, this album grasps your attention and doesn’t let go for 11 monstrous tracks and 48 minutes worth of enthralling modern heavy music. In all but title, a ‘wallflower’ this album is definitely not.
All that said, just looking through the lyrics of the title track, it certainly does seem to describe having an introverted personality (and also life under the Covid regime?)…
I gotta go home
My batteries are low
This life is a lock down
As an introvert myself, I certainly identify with this. It’s difficult to imagine frontwoman Tatiana Schmailyuk being an introvert, given the blistering, over the top performances she puts in, both on record and especially live. Of course, many great performers, achievers and public speakers over history of humanity have been introverts, so it’s not a great leap (many introverts are able to act like extroverts temporarily, they just need to retreat to quiet, solo space afterwards to ‘recharge’, as the lyrics suggest). And it’s more than possible the lyrics aren’t self-descriptive anyway.
But we’re talking about the album here, not the personalities of the band members, and suffice it is to say that Wallflowers is an explosive, completely ‘in your face’ masterpiece. The band has gone in the opposite direction many bands do, eschewing the need to mellow out and create more accessible sounds to boost their sales. JINJER just got heavier, more progressive and more muscular than they already were, and it’s a joy to behold. The riffs are grindier, the complex grooves slam even harder and Schmailyuk’s unclean voice sounds inhuman, sounds like she is dredging it up from hell itself. She switches across to soaring and melodic cleans on a five-cent piece when required though (see Copycat for proof). She receives a great deal of attention for her demonic howls, and rightly so, they are really quite frightening, and frighteningly good. But the sheer versatility of her voice is underrated, and absolutely necessary in such a dynamic setting.
Pictured: Screenshot from JINJER’s Hellfest from Home - 2021 Livestream
Watch it here
At the same time, this album is not just wall to wall blast. There are serious subtleties and intricacies at play here too, best encapsulated by single and video track Vortex, which builds from quiet beginnings into a swirling, grinding maelstrom of sound, and Pearls and Swine, which features similar neck-snapping, head-spinning progressions through loud and soft dynamics.
I’ve singled out two tracks there, but this entire album is steeped in expert craftsmanship (and craftswomanship?). On top of the ridiculously technically skilled musicianship and vocals on display here, some real imagination and nous has been poured into the arrangements of the tracks on Wallflowers. And the open-minded listener is the winner.
The Verdict
JINJER are justifiably one of the most important bands in heavy music today, and this album will only enhance that reputation. Wallflowers displays a band at the very pinnacle of their powers.
9.5/10
Wallflowers is available through Nuclear Blast right now!
More from JINJER…
Pictured: Roman Ibramkhalilov, Vladislav Ulasevish, Tatiana Shmayluk + Eugene Kostyuk - JINJER
Photo by: Veronika Gusieva @gusievaa
