Duél

01. Tantrum02. Hedonist03. Rogue04. Tumbleweed05. Green Serpent06. Kafka07. Dark Bile08. Fast Draw09. Someone’s Daughter10. A Tongue So Sly11. DuélIt was not so long ago that bands like JINJER had virtually no chance of breaking into the metal mainstream. Complex, knotty and avowedly progressive, the Ukrainians hurtled into view from a distinctly left-field position and have defied the odds by becoming one of the most respected and original bands in heavy music. After being stopped in their tracks by both Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and a global pandemic, they re-emerged as self-evident heavyweights, and 2021’s third album “Wallflowers” was the critically lauded result.Purveyors of a classy hybrid of metalcore, post-djent progressive metal and anything else they choose to hurl into the mix, JINJER make many mainstream band sound mundane and lacking in imagination. But while the eccentric diversity of their music is an undeniable selling point, the most important thing to know about them, and about “Duél” in particular, is that JINJER are fucking angry and fully prepared to show it. This is a much darker and more direct record than its predecessor, albeit retaining the same oddball detours that made the band so fascinating from the start.Crushing and cerebral, “Duél” is a wake-up call. There is no room for pissing around here. “Tantrum” begins with no fanfares, no intros, no atmospheric build-up. Instead, a clattering drum fill leads into a brutish battery of riffs and jolting twists and turns. Vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk enters the fray, screaming pointed threats, and deftly dropping melodic vocal lines whenever the mood takes her. The result is deeply hostile prog metal and a peculiar but mesmerizing blend of old and new, and it rips hard. “Hedonist” is equally punishing, but Shmayluk’s clean vocals take prominence, and Roman Ibramkhalilov’s ingenious guitar work shines and sparkles underneath, before darkness descends and the singer employs her animalistic roar again. It is fairly rare for mainstream metal to challenge and surprise like this, but JINJER have also become skilled at making heads bang: the dirty riff at the song’s end is surely going to be one of this year’s gnarliest breakdowns.Similarly, recent single “Rogue” is a glitchy groove metal bruiser, with perverse time changes and polyrhythmic tricks that never detract from the infectious, pit-friendly pulse. Although JINJER do all this stuff with the minimum of fuss, these are smart and meticulously crafted songs with endless amounts of charm. Whether it’s the stealthy, noirish “Tumbleweed” or the woozy and weird “Kafka”, the Ukrainians tick all the right metal boxes, while sprinting down a singular creative path. Even the utterly ferocious “Fast Draw” makes a virtue of JINJER’s progressive streak. Shmayluk has never sounded more furious, and the riffs that underscore her feral bellowing are rugged and brutal, but the end result is anything but one-dimensional and reveals new tricks and treasures with every spin. The closing title track is a monster, too. Tech-taut and bloated with ideas, it has “future live classic” etched into its leathery skin. In fact, all of these songs will cause substantial damage in a live setting, irrespective of how fiendishly intricate or unbound by genre expectations they are. JINJER are growing in strength and stature, and world domination is still firmly on the agenda.[embedded content]