As a musician and music lover, I have to give you a huge compliment!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw Jinjer on TH-cam for the first time 7 years ago, and I also watched a lot of reaction channels, but to start with Jinjer as a reaction channel like you did, with this intense and authentic reaction, just great my friend. Jinjer will go down in music history, because this band is so much more than a metal band. This band has such a great, great musical potential ........................................................................! besides the whole band is humble, authentic, and all are great, great musicians. warm greetings from germany
Since joining the band Vlad, the drummer, has done a lot of their composing. He is the only one with a formal background in music as a classically trained pianist. The band's early stuff before Vlad is extraordinary but when he joined it clicked everything up a notch.
Thanks for making this video man, we put a lot of time into making this piece, and it's really cool to see the narrative translate to so many people. Cheers!
Great 1st reaction to this incredible band. The more you know them and their journey the more you can really understand how they have developed such a tight unit and performances. Jinjer was a band started from the Donbas Region of Ukraine. Tatiana, Eugene and Roman were forced to leave their homes in 2014 when Russian backed separatists started a war there. They had to leave home and family to continue on the journey of being in the band. They sing about this in 2 heartbreaking and powerful songs, Home Back and Retrospection. They then lost their drummer Yevhen Mantulin to an injury that broke his back. Had a fill in drummer and eventually Vlad. They also lost the last original member Dimitriy Oksen who was their 2nd guitar player. All this while continuing to scratch out a living and touring CONSTANTLY. It is easy to find videos of them playing to tiny crowds 10-20 at most. This band has sacrificed so much. Napalm records signed them when seeing their self made video for Sit Stay Roll Over. Then Pisces went viral and they took off. They are so talented at every spot. But more importantly they are genuine. The ex-members are still close with them and have appeared in videos and go spend time with them. I have only meet them twice at meet and greets but both times I had genuine short talks about things like Eugene’s MMA background (I am a wrestling coach).
Excellent analysis and reaction. Instant sub. Long time metal bassist/vocalist, and I'm here for the Jinjer! This band is special. You've taken a deep dive for your first exposure, and clearly you're getting it. This music blends multiple styles and genres masterfully, from death metal to jazz and classical, even reggae. Multiple subgenres of metal are represented, from thrash to djent. And it's all seamlessly wedded into compositions that are at once unforced and natural, and also eye-openingly original sounding. Each of the musicians is a master of their craft. You've tapped into one of the great mysteries of Jinjer: how the hell does Tatiana find such rhapsodic melodies and vocal rhythms to go over the often chaotic yet orderly maelstrom that the guys present her with? It's often her voice that ties together a part, both melodically and rhythmically. She is a freaking genius. One thing I dig about the way you've approached Jinjer is that you haven't concentrated overly on Tatiana. You gave equal attention to all the players. Tatiana can be an overwhelming force, as you're about to see, and many reactors can't get past her incredible talents. But as a musician you are understanding the rare chemistry here, the way all the instruments contribute to a gestalt that's much more than the sum of its parts. Congratulations on finding your way into Jinjer in this unusual fashion. The Jinjer Army welcomes you in friendship. I'm with you, I was getting jaded with metal, I hadn't heard anything that really jumped out at me in seemingly decades. I'd been kind of adrift since Rush retired, searching hopefully for something that would grab me, but mostly falling back on listening to the same favorite few bands. Then came Jinjer. I had never really gravitated to harsh vocals, with a very few minor exceptions. But the artistry of Tatiana's combination of gorgeous cleans and Earth shattering extreme vocals hit me like a ton of bricks. The musicianship of all the musicians, and especially the amazing synchrony and tightness between them, grabbed me by the throat right away. Within three or four songs they were my new favorite band. I sensed a certain kinship with the musical and performance ethic of Rush. The expressive skill, the dedication, the passion, the integrity, the realness. I looked immediately to see if they were touring, and lo and behold! They were playing near me in two weeks' time! The timing was fortuitous. I got up close to the band in a smallish general admission venue, and Jinjer was cemented as my favorite band. Their live intensity and precision is to me unmatched. You haven't even touched on the lyrics yet. As an instrumentalist I often gravitate first to the instruments, even to the sound of the voice as an instrument, and usually to the lyrics last. When you start to factor in the beautiful, expressive, poetic, unorthodox lyrics of Tatiana and her helper Eugene, the overwhelming genius of this band starts to hit you. The lyrics are special. They're powerful and emotional. They're multi layered. They're composed unusually. I hope you enjoy Jinjer as much as we do! You'll get a lot of suggestions on where to go next, all of them worthy. As a musician, I highly recommend you check out the individual playthrough videos for drummer Vlad, guitarist Roman, bassist Eugene, and singer Tatiana. When you see and understand the individual puzzle pieces, it helps your appreciation of the overall picture. And you see what freaking monsters each of the guys are! But that's the most important takeaway: all of that is in service to the song. No ego. The song is king of everything.
I am 64, and I have followed Jinjer for about 7 years now. I have always been a fan of metal since high school. I have had a lot of favorite bands, but I have never had a band that has held my attention this long. The bands music just speaks to me. Every time I think that I have heard every Jinjer song, I find something new.
Well said. I'm mid-50s, punk was my youth and have always been a fan of jazz-fusion since hearing my parents jam stuff like Mahavishnu Orchestra when I was a kid. Something about Jinjer speaks to me like few bands have. Good stuff.
@@ThePizzabloggerhey Pizza and Steve! Agree so much with both your comments. I just turned 62, and I've been a metalhead since I saw Michael Schenker tear up a Flying V with UFO in 1975! Opening for Fleetwood Mac no less. I started playing bass a couple years later. I soon got into everything from Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple to Rush and Yes, Genesis, Kansas, ELP, etc to Bill Bruford, Return to Forever and Weather Report, Miles, to Gentle Giant and Renaissance, and on into King's X, Spock's Beard and Dream Theater. Plus jazz and classical. Music encompasses such variety of expression. Very often my favorite bands combine multiple genres and styles into one cohesive and unique blend. Jinjer is a perfect example of that.
The main background music is lainnereP (Perennial spelled backwards) from their album Macro. This was made from sound samples from their other song Perennial of their Micro EP album.
Speaking of background music, this reactor's background music is quite cool! I really dig the distorted bass tone, and the screaming toward the end is nice too. Is that original music??
They have had a very long and hard road to travel to get to where they are now. They had a drummer fall from a window and break his back. They were nearly killed in a car crash. They had another guitarist up and quit in the middle of a tour. Civil war erupted while they were on the road and they discovered they were not allowed to return home, so they were forced to stay on the road. For most of their career until very recently they were unable to secure any sponsorship. Then more recently Russia invades and they've been caught in the middle of all that. For fourteen years they have been doggedly touring, playing live just about anywhere they can. That's how they built their early fan base, on the strength of their live shows. They vlogged all of it on their TH-cam channel too, way, way back more than ten years ago. You can go back all the way to their first tours in eastern Europe and watch them vlog and laugh about the crappy hotel rooms and the bad food. A lot of their fans watched them grow up from an unknown, unheard of dive band to where they are now. It's been cool to watch.
There's a lot to like with Jinjer, but what is still inexplicable to me is her way of writing - in her native language that's afterwards translated to English. I mean these two languages are so different, the words are of different length, the phrases are two separate worlds, it's just incredible to me. Maybe if she was writing some lalala generic lyrics, but she's writing meaningful and beautiful lyrics. I just don't understand how can the result of such process turn out so well in the end.
That's what blows me away the most too. The musical parts are so intense and often rhythmically challenging, tons of shifting meters. And Russian is so rhythmically different from English. It's astonishing. Plus we get some really cute linguistic idiosyncracies, like in Home Back when she pronounces "owl" to rhyme with "hole." And then phrases it as "midnight ohl," like a Southerner saying midnight oil. Cute but genius.
Welcome to Jinjer! This is a very cool introduction to the band compared to where most people start. It's not just a chance to see how good they are musically, but also how genuine they are as people. The background song you mentioned is Micro and the other is lainnereP (Perennial Backwards) Both are instrumental songs from the connected Micro EP and Macro album. They often use these songs as audio at the beginning or end of shows. I can relate to what you said at the start about hearing new stuff. I had really been stuck in a rut with the same bands for a while until finding Jinjer. They quickly became my favorite band and got me excited about music in a way I hadn't been in a long time. Since it seems like you are ok with doing longer videos and interested in comparing studio vs live, I'll recommend checking out Sit Stay Roll Over OMV along with the live in Melbourne version. It also gives you a chance to check out what they are like in concert vs this live session. They have a bunch of high quality official live videos and festivals with professional recordings are usually really good too.
Oh do you have a road to go down. So many good songs. Perennial live at Whacken. Judgement & Punishment one take vocal. (It’s 3 songs in one, both voice and instruments) you’ll enjoy that one! Seeing them live in a small club in September. 2nd time. They’re awesome live and I love her use of limited backing tracks. It doesn’t take away from her live performance. Just enhances great parts of songs.
Some of these chord you mentioned after "Vortex" are actually played by Eugene on the bass guitar! Vlad is the only traines musician - he studied the piano, plays Rachmaninov and the guitar.... Every song of them is a roller coaster - only with a roller coaster you always know where to come out again. With Jinjer? Well... 🤣 Everytime you think you kmow how thing work they simply change it. 🤘
Great reaction. You already grt the band. Jinjer does indeed capture a lot of that feeling on the album, but Jinjer is 100% a live band. It's never quite as good as when they perform live. And Tati is an amazing frontman....she is magnetic on stage and works the stage and crowd. A fantastic band all abound. They admittedly play to a click, which is important for a lot of the intricate playing, yet the music almost always sounds organic. And Jinjer is "real" and believable. You picked up on that. They are done recording their new album and post-production is next. Hopefully late 2024 we get a new album.
Hey again Pizza! Did you see Eugene's quote very recently that they're even closer than we might imagine to releasing the album? 😄 Re: the click and backing tracks. I'm a professional musician, and I fully approve of the use of backing tracks when done properly. It adds nuance, emphasis, harmony, layered sound. Especially with a power trio or four piece band. Jinjer is pretty subtle in their use of backing tracks. Special effects like the intro of I Speak Astronomy, vocal harmonies (usually subtle--never any screaming) a very few subtle guitar or keyboard parts, such as in the pre-chorus in Pisces. It's not "cheating," it's adding. Every member is fully performing at all moments onstage. You'll even hear it on this performance. There is a very subtle vocal harmony on Vortex and Wallflower. They are performing live with their backing track, and it's beautiful. And of course there's no way to do that without in-ears and click track. It also aids in achieving the precision of their live show, with no wasted space between songs, going straight into the complex timing of each song without fail or flaw. They're an incredibly well-oiled machine in concert. It's an overlooked skill to be able to pull that all off to a click track. I give them kudos for it.
Tatiana's vocal tones are like the colors on a painters pallet. She really knows how to pick the colors off the pallet. It's probably hard to remember them all and in fact fans can recognize harsh vocal tones she doesn't use any longer. Beggars Dance and Prologue are very good songs. You would never guess a metal band is playing them. It makes me want to see Tatiana do a Jazz album. I don't think I've seen anyone take lines from every other song on the album to make a new one. One less obvious skill Tatiana has is to hear the complex time signatures and chords and lay vocals over the top of them when some people can hear the songs and not be able to tap their foot to them through the changes. Just prior to the King of Everything album they went from two guitars down to one. It couldn't help but change the sound of the band but IMO I think it needed to happen. Roman (the guitar player) has grown into a very unique player holding down the guitar in a three piece instrumental in a way I haven't seen before. They are known as a live band. It's actually quite common for people to hear the studio version of their songs then hear a live version and prefer the live version. Not because the records are bad but there is something there that you can't duplicate in the studio. As far as I know from following the band closely all of the former members are friendly with one another. It's not a matter of a band member leaving because they hate each other. They just moved on and then some of them have appeared in music videos from the band. One of their videos all of them are there. Even those that were there in the beginning.
Always love your comments Coder. Are you in the US? Love to buy you a beer at a Jinjer concert someday! I agree that the live performances often sound better than the studio recordings. But I think many of the studio recordings are close, but different in subtle ways. They tend to stick very close to the album arrangements live. Subtle differences are there, especially variations in the vocals. But with the instruments it seems to me it's often more a matter of tone and ambience than any major differences of arrangement or performance between studio and live. This is another way they remind me of Rush. Subtle things would creep in over time as they played a song hundreds of times live. They were kind of like musical "in jokes" for the knowledgeable fan. But they were incredibly consistent in their live performances. They held themselves to a high performance standard.
@@ericpeterson7512 The instruments always have to balance the layers and extra parts in the albums with what they can do live. Roman and Eugene are masters of that and I appreciate how Jinjer is careful in using tracks live. Going from two guitars to one is always difficult. I watch a lot of the cellphone videos taken that are posted on the fan club page on FB. Tati pretty much never seems to sing a song the same way twice. Having played music for a living for about 20 years I can tell you the main difference comes from recordings that are done instrument by instrument. It might start with the drummer and a click track. It's convenient and just that one musician can take their time getting the right sound and the right performance but musicians who are at their best when they feed off other musicians as they play won't give you the same result if they are just doing their part alone in a room. I live in the Midwestern US. I saw the band in 2022 in Nashville and met them. I haven't been able to see them since. They were going to be near by when touring with Slipknot but when that tour was cancelled I wasn't able to see them. They haven't been back any closer than Denver since. It was expensive to hop on a plane to see them in Nashville so I don't know when I'll get to another concert.
@@coder4liberty I'll be attending the Charlotte NC show with my daughter in November. I hope you get to see a show on this tour. I can't wait to hear the new songs! You're spot on with your thoughts about recording methods. It used to be that most rock albums were recorded basically live in the studio, with the whole band playing together. The trend has been toward tracking individual tracks by themselves, and that's how I've done most of my recording. Usually drums, then bass, then guitars, then vocals. I personally prefer tracking together as a band, for the reasons you mention. I've been sticklered a lot on my bass parts by producers whoo were overly concerned with perfection, often having parts broken down note by note, and being punched in to"fix" one note that wasn't perfectly uniform with the rest. I'm a perfectionist, but that can go too far in my view. Listen to the isolated bass tracks of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, and you hear A TON of micro-inconsistencies. Do you hear them when you listen to Maiden on records or live? Hell no! He sounds monstrous. That being said, Jinjer's music is way more precise than most bands, and requires a high degree of accuracy. When you watch their playthrough videos there is almost zero percent shilly-shally on each track. They're incredibly consistent live too. I get the feeling they may record in that old school live way, but maybe not. Eugene did say he was going in to track the bass on his own.
@@ericpeterson7512 Well keep in mind Steely Dan was two people. Their records may have been recorded with as many as 6 different rhythm sections alone and maybe 20 session musicians total sometimes and none of them played together. In fact to this day nobody knows who made it into the final product in some cases. So it's not a hard and fast rule and some bands aren't good together live. Singer songwriter types who play multiple instruments might not need any of that. Live sessions became less and less necessary starting in about 1973. We went from 4 to 8 to 16 tracks + with the ability to sync machines and punch in and so on so it's not like all classic records started with a live session. A lot of it can be "scratch" tracks where you don't intend to keep it it's just for that bass player or drummer, etc. who doesn't feel comfortable doing their part alone to listen to. That would have been me BTW. I didn't like sitting to just a click.
They are *so* good tho. :) I got into them for the composition, initially *despite* Tatiana's extreme vocals. But it didn't take long for me to realise she is 100% *in it* when she's up there doing her thing. Integrity in music is super important, & all 4 of them drip integrity imho. Apart from an Opeth album, Jinjer are the only band using extreme vocals whose music I've spent actual money on. They are *so* good tho! :)
Integrity. Maybe the most important ingredient. It's been a watchword for me since Rush used it in The Spirit of Radio. And perhaps no band since Rush has had so much of it as Jinjer.
Tatjana learnt English in school (and university?) and she writes all the lyric herself, often in Russian and translates them into English. Eh - well Tatjana already told herself... ooops As they toured America at least two times (and also Australia) and as she is now married for two, three years to a member of Suicidal Silence and lives some time in LA her English grew better.
@bernhardkulzer9125 yeah, Tatiana learned English in university. She studied in local Institute of Foreign Languages actually. I am even familiar with her English teacher from the institute.
@@decay78 They are Ukrainian and she speaks also Ukrainian but voming from a town near Donezk her mothertongue is actually Russian.. Watch "Disclosure!" and look up the interview that was the reason for that song and you`ll understand.
You know, I don't think that Jinjer's live performance could be captured without losses by the studio recording. They have some lets say live fluids which can't be captured, or maybe postproduction kills it. I don't say that the band doesn't have a good studio recordings, they do. They have a very proficient recording producer. And I don't say that any Jinjer's performance is much better than studio recording. But yeah, in most cases live performance would be preferable. It's a live band so to say. They have enough experience and skills to produce the high quality sound live and additionally they have some kind of charisma, stage presence, which increases the impression significantly. Especially Tatiana, she's a world class live performer. As far as she sings her own lyrics (with a bit of bassist's lyrics) she means it when she's singing. She expresses her soul every time. I saw a lot of their perfomances and I never saw that Tatiana wasn't really interested in what she's singing right now. You can compare them to such artists as David Bowie. His studio albums are great but if you don't see him you can't catch everything. Because he's not only a musician/singer, he's an artist an his presence is a part of the art.
Main lyrics are written by Tatiana, Eugene has written quite a few songs (usually the heavier ones directly about government) and Max Morton (production) and Tatiana's husband Alex also help her with writing the English lyrics a bit. Usually you can tell Tatiana's writing from Eugene's because hers are a bit more feminine and romantic or nostalgic almost whereas Eugene's songs (Sit Stay Roll Over, Colossus) are quite direct and brutal overall and very masculine - that being said, there is a bit of overlap between the two styles between the two people.
I totally agree about Tatiana's stage presence. It significantly contributes to the overall impression of the song to see her doing it live. She is a magnetic performer. She was actually pretty restrained in this live-in-studio setting. She brings a fierce intensity of passion and expression to their live performances.
they have much more "user friendly" songs where you won't get thrown off.... like outlander, perrenial... but their best songs have some unevenness and oddity, like teacher teacher, homeback, pit of consciousness, i speak astronomy, retrospection, scissors, ape
Lol jinjer in general make anti 4/4 songs majority of the time and "dead hands feel no pain" is a deep cut so it is literally meant to live in a wave of odd time signatures🤣🤣
Their main language is Russian, second language Ukrainian, third language is likely Polish or other Eastern European language due to proximity to those countries, fourth language probably English. Tatiana also speaks some Spanish and I think a little Portuguese also. They are writing in like their third or fourth language lol
I should note about her singing in accents -- she does often sing with a Southern USA twang. One of her early influences singing and learning English language was of course Britney Spears. If you told me Tatiana was from Tennessee or Louisiana or something I wouldn't even question it and I have lived in the Southern US for 99.9% of my life
I don't necessarily agree that there are no more original members in the band. I think it's fair to say that Max Fatullayev's Jinjer (Max was the original singer and one of the founding members) ended when he left the band. The Jinjer we know today started when Tatiana and Roman joined the band in 2010, so for me they're the original band members of today's Jinjer.
Lol Jinjer is ukrainian proggy djent groove metal with complex time-signature maze, polyrhythms and multi-genre blending. They are one of the most talented 4-pieces ever. Tati is one of the best overall metal vocalists and lyricists in the business. Jinjer - Pisces (Live Session) Jinjer - Perennial (Live At Wacken 2019) Jinjer - Pit of Consciousness (Live in Kiev) Jinjer - On The Top (Live in Kiev) Jinjer - Who Is Gonna Be The One (Official Live) Jinjer - Judgement & Punishment (Tatiana One Take Vocal) Jinjer - Teacher Teacher (Official Video) Jinjer - Captain Clock (Live at Resurrection Fest 2018) Jinjer - Cloud Factory (Official Video) Jinjer - Outlander (failure .color Video) Jinjer - No Hoard of Value (Official Lyrics Video) Jinjer - I Speak Astronomy (Official Video) Jinjer - Vortex (Official Video) Jinjer - Wallflower (Official Video) Jinjer - Mediator (Official Video) Jinjer - Disclosure (Official Video) Jinjer - Call Me A Symbol (Official Video) Jinjer - Live At Wacken 2023
@@J-163 You guys have the ✨vibes✨ Subbed on a YT music ♥ Would be great if you'd add the lyrics for every song. This is kinda... needed for the genre :P
Thanks from UKRAINE ❤
Good reaction. (Subbed)
As a musician and music lover, I have to give you a huge compliment!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw Jinjer on TH-cam for the first time 7 years ago, and I also watched a lot of reaction channels, but to start with Jinjer as a reaction channel like you did, with this intense and authentic reaction, just great my friend.
Jinjer will go down in music history, because this band is so much more than a metal band. This band has such a great, great musical potential ........................................................................!
besides the whole band is humble, authentic, and all are great, great musicians.
warm greetings from germany
I could not think of a better introduction to this amazing band!
What a great way to acquaint yourself with Jinjer!
Since joining the band Vlad, the drummer, has done a lot of their composing. He is the only one with a formal background in music as a classically trained pianist. The band's early stuff before Vlad is extraordinary but when he joined it clicked everything up a notch.
Indeed. When Ape came out, which was one of Vlad's first compositions, I was like whoa, this is something special.
Thanks for making this video man, we put a lot of time into making this piece, and it's really cool to see the narrative translate to so many people. Cheers!
Great 1st reaction to this incredible band. The more you know them and their journey the more you can really understand how they have developed such a tight unit and performances. Jinjer was a band started from the Donbas Region of Ukraine. Tatiana, Eugene and Roman were forced to leave their homes in 2014 when Russian backed separatists started a war there. They had to leave home and family to continue on the journey of being in the band. They sing about this in 2 heartbreaking and powerful songs, Home Back and Retrospection. They then lost their drummer Yevhen Mantulin to an injury that broke his back. Had a fill in drummer and eventually Vlad. They also lost the last original member Dimitriy Oksen who was their 2nd guitar player. All this while continuing to scratch out a living and touring CONSTANTLY. It is easy to find videos of them playing to tiny crowds 10-20 at most. This band has sacrificed so much. Napalm records signed them when seeing their self made video for Sit Stay Roll Over. Then Pisces went viral and they took off. They are so talented at every spot. But more importantly they are genuine. The ex-members are still close with them and have appeared in videos and go spend time with them. I have only meet them twice at meet and greets but both times I had genuine short talks about things like Eugene’s MMA background (I am a wrestling coach).
Love your comment. Love the passion of the Jinjer fans!
Excellent analysis and reaction. Instant sub. Long time metal bassist/vocalist, and I'm here for the Jinjer!
This band is special. You've taken a deep dive for your first exposure, and clearly you're getting it. This music blends multiple styles and genres masterfully, from death metal to jazz and classical, even reggae. Multiple subgenres of metal are represented, from thrash to djent. And it's all seamlessly wedded into compositions that are at once unforced and natural, and also eye-openingly original sounding.
Each of the musicians is a master of their craft. You've tapped into one of the great mysteries of Jinjer: how the hell does Tatiana find such rhapsodic melodies and vocal rhythms to go over the often chaotic yet orderly maelstrom that the guys present her with? It's often her voice that ties together a part, both melodically and rhythmically. She is a freaking genius.
One thing I dig about the way you've approached Jinjer is that you haven't concentrated overly on Tatiana. You gave equal attention to all the players. Tatiana can be an overwhelming force, as you're about to see, and many reactors can't get past her incredible talents. But as a musician you are understanding the rare chemistry here, the way all the instruments contribute to a gestalt that's much more than the sum of its parts.
Congratulations on finding your way into Jinjer in this unusual fashion. The Jinjer Army welcomes you in friendship. I'm with you, I was getting jaded with metal, I hadn't heard anything that really jumped out at me in seemingly decades. I'd been kind of adrift since Rush retired, searching hopefully for something that would grab me, but mostly falling back on listening to the same favorite few bands.
Then came Jinjer. I had never really gravitated to harsh vocals, with a very few minor exceptions. But the artistry of Tatiana's combination of gorgeous cleans and Earth shattering extreme vocals hit me like a ton of bricks. The musicianship of all the musicians, and especially the amazing synchrony and tightness between them, grabbed me by the throat right away. Within three or four songs they were my new favorite band. I sensed a certain kinship with the musical and performance ethic of Rush. The expressive skill, the dedication, the passion, the integrity, the realness. I looked immediately to see if they were touring, and lo and behold! They were playing near me in two weeks' time! The timing was fortuitous. I got up close to the band in a smallish general admission venue, and Jinjer was cemented as my favorite band. Their live intensity and precision is to me unmatched.
You haven't even touched on the lyrics yet. As an instrumentalist I often gravitate first to the instruments, even to the sound of the voice as an instrument, and usually to the lyrics last. When you start to factor in the beautiful, expressive, poetic, unorthodox lyrics of Tatiana and her helper Eugene, the overwhelming genius of this band starts to hit you. The lyrics are special. They're powerful and emotional. They're multi layered. They're composed unusually.
I hope you enjoy Jinjer as much as we do! You'll get a lot of suggestions on where to go next, all of them worthy. As a musician, I highly recommend you check out the individual playthrough videos for drummer Vlad, guitarist Roman, bassist Eugene, and singer Tatiana. When you see and understand the individual puzzle pieces, it helps your appreciation of the overall picture. And you see what freaking monsters each of the guys are! But that's the most important takeaway: all of that is in service to the song. No ego. The song is king of everything.
I am 64, and I have followed Jinjer for about 7 years now. I have always been a fan of metal since high school. I have had a lot of favorite bands, but I have never had a band that has held my attention this long. The bands music just speaks to me. Every time I think that I have heard every Jinjer song, I find something new.
Well said. I'm mid-50s, punk was my youth and have always been a fan of jazz-fusion since hearing my parents jam stuff like Mahavishnu Orchestra when I was a kid. Something about Jinjer speaks to me like few bands have. Good stuff.
@@ThePizzabloggerhey Pizza and Steve! Agree so much with both your comments. I just turned 62, and I've been a metalhead since I saw Michael Schenker tear up a Flying V with UFO in 1975! Opening for Fleetwood Mac no less. I started playing bass a couple years later. I soon got into everything from Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple to Rush and Yes, Genesis, Kansas, ELP, etc to Bill Bruford, Return to Forever and Weather Report, Miles, to Gentle Giant and Renaissance, and on into King's X, Spock's Beard and Dream Theater. Plus jazz and classical.
Music encompasses such variety of expression. Very often my favorite bands combine multiple genres and styles into one cohesive and unique blend. Jinjer is a perfect example of that.
The main background music is lainnereP (Perennial spelled backwards) from their album Macro. This was made from sound samples from their other song Perennial of their Micro EP album.
Speaking of background music, this reactor's background music is quite cool! I really dig the distorted bass tone, and the screaming toward the end is nice too. Is that original music??
They are a fantastic story and band.
They have had a very long and hard road to travel to get to where they are now. They had a drummer fall from a window and break his back. They were nearly killed in a car crash. They had another guitarist up and quit in the middle of a tour. Civil war erupted while they were on the road and they discovered they were not allowed to return home, so they were forced to stay on the road. For most of their career until very recently they were unable to secure any sponsorship. Then more recently Russia invades and they've been caught in the middle of all that. For fourteen years they have been doggedly touring, playing live just about anywhere they can. That's how they built their early fan base, on the strength of their live shows. They vlogged all of it on their TH-cam channel too, way, way back more than ten years ago. You can go back all the way to their first tours in eastern Europe and watch them vlog and laugh about the crappy hotel rooms and the bad food. A lot of their fans watched them grow up from an unknown, unheard of dive band to where they are now. It's been cool to watch.
There's a lot to like with Jinjer, but what is still inexplicable to me is her way of writing - in her native language that's afterwards translated to English. I mean these two languages are so different, the words are of different length, the phrases are two separate worlds, it's just incredible to me. Maybe if she was writing some lalala generic lyrics, but she's writing meaningful and beautiful lyrics. I just don't understand how can the result of such process turn out so well in the end.
That's what blows me away the most too. The musical parts are so intense and often rhythmically challenging, tons of shifting meters. And Russian is so rhythmically different from English. It's astonishing. Plus we get some really cute linguistic idiosyncracies, like in Home Back when she pronounces "owl" to rhyme with "hole." And then phrases it as "midnight ohl," like a Southerner saying midnight oil. Cute but genius.
Welcome to Jinjer! This is a very cool introduction to the band compared to where most people start. It's not just a chance to see how good they are musically, but also how genuine they are as people. The background song you mentioned is Micro and the other is lainnereP (Perennial Backwards) Both are instrumental songs from the connected Micro EP and Macro album. They often use these songs as audio at the beginning or end of shows.
I can relate to what you said at the start about hearing new stuff. I had really been stuck in a rut with the same bands for a while until finding Jinjer. They quickly became my favorite band and got me excited about music in a way I hadn't been in a long time. Since it seems like you are ok with doing longer videos and interested in comparing studio vs live, I'll recommend checking out Sit Stay Roll Over OMV along with the live in Melbourne version. It also gives you a chance to check out what they are like in concert vs this live session. They have a bunch of high quality official live videos and festivals with professional recordings are usually really good too.
Oh do you have a road to go down. So many good songs. Perennial live at Whacken. Judgement & Punishment one take vocal. (It’s 3 songs in one, both voice and instruments) you’ll enjoy that one! Seeing them live in a small club in September. 2nd time. They’re awesome live and I love her use of limited backing tracks. It doesn’t take away from her live performance. Just enhances great parts of songs.
That snare 😊
Thank you for your reaction and sharing your analysis and opinion on this remarkable band. Enjoy the journey.
Thank you! Will do!
Some of these chord you mentioned after "Vortex" are actually played by Eugene on the bass guitar!
Vlad is the only traines musician - he studied the piano, plays Rachmaninov and the guitar....
Every song of them is a roller coaster - only with a roller coaster you always know where to come out again. With Jinjer? Well... 🤣
Everytime you think you kmow how thing work they simply change it. 🤘
Great reaction. You already grt the band.
Jinjer does indeed capture a lot of that feeling on the album, but Jinjer is 100% a live band. It's never quite as good as when they perform live. And Tati is an amazing frontman....she is magnetic on stage and works the stage and crowd. A fantastic band all abound.
They admittedly play to a click, which is important for a lot of the intricate playing, yet the music almost always sounds organic. And Jinjer is "real" and believable. You picked up on that.
They are done recording their new album and post-production is next. Hopefully late 2024 we get a new album.
Hey again Pizza! Did you see Eugene's quote very recently that they're even closer than we might imagine to releasing the album? 😄
Re: the click and backing tracks. I'm a professional musician, and I fully approve of the use of backing tracks when done properly. It adds nuance, emphasis, harmony, layered sound. Especially with a power trio or four piece band. Jinjer is pretty subtle in their use of backing tracks. Special effects like the intro of I Speak Astronomy, vocal harmonies (usually subtle--never any screaming) a very few subtle guitar or keyboard parts, such as in the pre-chorus in Pisces. It's not "cheating," it's adding. Every member is fully performing at all moments onstage.
You'll even hear it on this performance. There is a very subtle vocal harmony on Vortex and Wallflower. They are performing live with their backing track, and it's beautiful.
And of course there's no way to do that without in-ears and click track. It also aids in achieving the precision of their live show, with no wasted space between songs, going straight into the complex timing of each song without fail or flaw. They're an incredibly well-oiled machine in concert. It's an overlooked skill to be able to pull that all off to a click track. I give them kudos for it.
Tatiana's vocal tones are like the colors on a painters pallet. She really knows how to pick the colors off the pallet. It's probably hard to remember them all and in fact fans can recognize harsh vocal tones she doesn't use any longer. Beggars Dance and Prologue are very good songs. You would never guess a metal band is playing them. It makes me want to see Tatiana do a Jazz album. I don't think I've seen anyone take lines from every other song on the album to make a new one. One less obvious skill Tatiana has is to hear the complex time signatures and chords and lay vocals over the top of them when some people can hear the songs and not be able to tap their foot to them through the changes.
Just prior to the King of Everything album they went from two guitars down to one. It couldn't help but change the sound of the band but IMO I think it needed to happen. Roman (the guitar player) has grown into a very unique player holding down the guitar in a three piece instrumental in a way I haven't seen before. They are known as a live band. It's actually quite common for people to hear the studio version of their songs then hear a live version and prefer the live version. Not because the records are bad but there is something there that you can't duplicate in the studio.
As far as I know from following the band closely all of the former members are friendly with one another. It's not a matter of a band member leaving because they hate each other. They just moved on and then some of them have appeared in music videos from the band. One of their videos all of them are there. Even those that were there in the beginning.
The previous drummer, Dmitry Kim, does sound engineering work on some of their tracks. He's very good!
Always love your comments Coder. Are you in the US? Love to buy you a beer at a Jinjer concert someday!
I agree that the live performances often sound better than the studio recordings. But I think many of the studio recordings are close, but different in subtle ways. They tend to stick very close to the album arrangements live. Subtle differences are there, especially variations in the vocals. But with the instruments it seems to me it's often more a matter of tone and ambience than any major differences of arrangement or performance between studio and live. This is another way they remind me of Rush. Subtle things would creep in over time as they played a song hundreds of times live. They were kind of like musical "in jokes" for the knowledgeable fan. But they were incredibly consistent in their live performances. They held themselves to a high performance standard.
@@ericpeterson7512 The instruments always have to balance the layers and extra parts in the albums with what they can do live. Roman and Eugene are masters of that and I appreciate how Jinjer is careful in using tracks live. Going from two guitars to one is always difficult. I watch a lot of the cellphone videos taken that are posted on the fan club page on FB. Tati pretty much never seems to sing a song the same way twice.
Having played music for a living for about 20 years I can tell you the main difference comes from recordings that are done instrument by instrument. It might start with the drummer and a click track. It's convenient and just that one musician can take their time getting the right sound and the right performance but musicians who are at their best when they feed off other musicians as they play won't give you the same result if they are just doing their part alone in a room.
I live in the Midwestern US. I saw the band in 2022 in Nashville and met them. I haven't been able to see them since. They were going to be near by when touring with Slipknot but when that tour was cancelled I wasn't able to see them. They haven't been back any closer than Denver since. It was expensive to hop on a plane to see them in Nashville so I don't know when I'll get to another concert.
@@coder4liberty I'll be attending the Charlotte NC show with my daughter in November. I hope you get to see a show on this tour. I can't wait to hear the new songs!
You're spot on with your thoughts about recording methods. It used to be that most rock albums were recorded basically live in the studio, with the whole band playing together. The trend has been toward tracking individual tracks by themselves, and that's how I've done most of my recording. Usually drums, then bass, then guitars, then vocals. I personally prefer tracking together as a band, for the reasons you mention. I've been sticklered a lot on my bass parts by producers whoo were overly concerned with perfection, often having parts broken down note by note, and being punched in to"fix" one note that wasn't perfectly uniform with the rest. I'm a perfectionist, but that can go too far in my view. Listen to the isolated bass tracks of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, and you hear A TON of micro-inconsistencies. Do you hear them when you listen to Maiden on records or live? Hell no! He sounds monstrous.
That being said, Jinjer's music is way more precise than most bands, and requires a high degree of accuracy. When you watch their playthrough videos there is almost zero percent shilly-shally on each track. They're incredibly consistent live too. I get the feeling they may record in that old school live way, but maybe not. Eugene did say he was going in to track the bass on his own.
@@ericpeterson7512 Well keep in mind Steely Dan was two people. Their records may have been recorded with as many as 6 different rhythm sections alone and maybe 20 session musicians total sometimes and none of them played together. In fact to this day nobody knows who made it into the final product in some cases. So it's not a hard and fast rule and some bands aren't good together live. Singer songwriter types who play multiple instruments might not need any of that.
Live sessions became less and less necessary starting in about 1973. We went from 4 to 8 to 16 tracks + with the ability to sync machines and punch in and so on so it's not like all classic records started with a live session. A lot of it can be "scratch" tracks where you don't intend to keep it it's just for that bass player or drummer, etc. who doesn't feel comfortable doing their part alone to listen to. That would have been me BTW. I didn't like sitting to just a click.
They are *so* good tho. :)
I got into them for the composition, initially *despite* Tatiana's extreme vocals. But it didn't take long for me to realise she is 100% *in it* when she's up there doing her thing. Integrity in music is super important, & all 4 of them drip integrity imho. Apart from an Opeth album, Jinjer are the only band using extreme vocals whose music I've spent actual money on. They are *so* good tho! :)
Integrity. Maybe the most important ingredient. It's been a watchword for me since Rush used it in The Spirit of Radio. And perhaps no band since Rush has had so much of it as Jinjer.
All the background songs are from Jinjer as well.
Really enjoyed this mate,really well done 🤘🏻
Thanks a ton! Glad you enjoyed it 🤘
Tatjana learnt English in school (and university?) and she writes all the lyric herself, often in Russian and translates them into English. Eh - well Tatjana already told herself... ooops
As they toured America at least two times (and also Australia) and as she is now married for two, three years to a member of Suicidal Silence and lives some time in LA her English grew better.
@bernhardkulzer9125 yeah, Tatiana learned English in university. She studied in local Institute of Foreign Languages actually.
I am even familiar with her English teacher from the institute.
Not Russian.
@@decay78 why not Russian?
@@decay78 They are Ukrainian and she speaks also Ukrainian but voming from a town near Donezk her mothertongue is actually Russian.. Watch "Disclosure!" and look up the interview that was the reason for that song and you`ll understand.
Tatiana is the best at this, seamless cleans to growls🤘🤘
The Queen
They are the new Metallica. They are my favorite band now.
lol. Better than Metallica in every way.
You know, I don't think that Jinjer's live performance could be captured without losses by the studio recording. They have some lets say live fluids which can't be captured, or maybe postproduction kills it.
I don't say that the band doesn't have a good studio recordings, they do. They have a very proficient recording producer.
And I don't say that any Jinjer's performance is much better than studio recording.
But yeah, in most cases live performance would be preferable.
It's a live band so to say. They have enough experience and skills to produce the high quality sound live and additionally they have some kind of charisma, stage presence, which increases the impression significantly.
Especially Tatiana, she's a world class live performer. As far as she sings her own lyrics (with a bit of bassist's lyrics) she means it when she's singing. She expresses her soul every time. I saw a lot of their perfomances and I never saw that Tatiana wasn't really interested in what she's singing right now.
You can compare them to such artists as David Bowie. His studio albums are great but if you don't see him you can't catch everything. Because he's not only a musician/singer, he's an artist an his presence is a part of the art.
Main lyrics are written by Tatiana, Eugene has written quite a few songs (usually the heavier ones directly about government) and Max Morton (production) and Tatiana's husband Alex also help her with writing the English lyrics a bit. Usually you can tell Tatiana's writing from Eugene's because hers are a bit more feminine and romantic or nostalgic almost whereas Eugene's songs (Sit Stay Roll Over, Colossus) are quite direct and brutal overall and very masculine - that being said, there is a bit of overlap between the two styles between the two people.
I totally agree about Tatiana's stage presence. It significantly contributes to the overall impression of the song to see her doing it live. She is a magnetic performer. She was actually pretty restrained in this live-in-studio setting. She brings a fierce intensity of passion and expression to their live performances.
they have much more "user friendly" songs where you won't get thrown off.... like outlander, perrenial... but their best songs have some unevenness and oddity, like teacher teacher, homeback, pit of consciousness, i speak astronomy, retrospection, scissors, ape
Lol jinjer in general make anti 4/4 songs majority of the time and "dead hands feel no pain" is a deep cut so it is literally meant to live in a wave of odd time signatures🤣🤣
I smiled so huge when I saw them playing Dead Hands in this. That's one of my favorite songs of theirs and I agree, kind of a deeper cut
I have to commend the courage to dive into a 46 minute video on a band you don't know.
Haha thanks!
Their main language is Russian, second language Ukrainian, third language is likely Polish or other Eastern European language due to proximity to those countries, fourth language probably English. Tatiana also speaks some Spanish and I think a little Portuguese also. They are writing in like their third or fourth language lol
I should note about her singing in accents -- she does often sing with a Southern USA twang. One of her early influences singing and learning English language was of course Britney Spears. If you told me Tatiana was from Tennessee or Louisiana or something I wouldn't even question it and I have lived in the Southern US for 99.9% of my life
I don't necessarily agree that there are no more original members in the band. I think it's fair to say that Max Fatullayev's Jinjer (Max was the original singer and one of the founding members) ended when he left the band. The Jinjer we know today started when Tatiana and Roman joined the band in 2010, so for me they're the original band members of today's Jinjer.
Lol Jinjer is ukrainian proggy djent groove metal with complex time-signature maze, polyrhythms and multi-genre blending. They are one of the most talented 4-pieces ever. Tati is one of the best overall metal vocalists and lyricists in the business.
Jinjer - Pisces (Live Session)
Jinjer - Perennial (Live At Wacken 2019)
Jinjer - Pit of Consciousness (Live in Kiev)
Jinjer - On The Top (Live in Kiev)
Jinjer - Who Is Gonna Be The One (Official Live)
Jinjer - Judgement & Punishment (Tatiana One Take Vocal)
Jinjer - Teacher Teacher (Official Video)
Jinjer - Captain Clock (Live at Resurrection Fest 2018)
Jinjer - Cloud Factory (Official Video)
Jinjer - Outlander (failure .color Video)
Jinjer - No Hoard of Value (Official Lyrics Video)
Jinjer - I Speak Astronomy (Official Video)
Jinjer - Vortex (Official Video)
Jinjer - Wallflower (Official Video)
Jinjer - Mediator (Official Video)
Jinjer - Disclosure (Official Video)
Jinjer - Call Me A Symbol (Official Video)
Jinjer - Live At Wacken 2023
Well, yes. They don`thave a bad song...
They don`t do any soli and, yes, they have traditional music patterns - only to destroy them at will...🤣
Which documentary is that one??? Anybody can share the link please??? Thanks
th-cam.com/video/vBiQyM3I40o/w-d-xo.htmlsi=xW4wEOtoFRLYoJ5X
Loved your reaction man!
Dead Hands Feel No Pain is arguably the worst song from their last album. That is to say that the album is very good.
43:45 What's playing on background? O_O
Lust For Dust by King Trio (my band!)
open.spotify.com/track/1F58V6QQhezYAuXkI8VtiO?si=5618a403b8774786
@@J-163 You guys have the ✨vibes✨
Subbed on a YT music ♥
Would be great if you'd add the lyrics for every song. This is kinda... needed for the genre :P
He use two snare drums....