20.05.2025 Jinjer

Graspop Metal Meeting

Dessel (Belgium)

The evening moved on, and after Polaris I stayed at the Jupiler Stage, because this was where the band I had been incredibly excited to see all day was about to perform. Jinjer from Ukraine made a stop on their European tour on this Belgian field to fire up the crowd with their full-force prog‑metal power.
Surprisingly, I found that it wasn’t as crowded as it had been for Polaris, which I couldn’t quite understand. Tatiana Shmailyuk immediately growled the first banger, “On the Top” from their 2019 album "Macro", at us in her unmistakable style. However, it’s a bit unfair to reduce the band solely to their charismatic frontwoman. Her bandmates Roman Ibramkhalilov on guitar, Eugene Abdukhanov on bass, and drummer Vlad Ulasevich are in no way inferior to her and unleashed just as much of a fireworks display as Shmailyuk herself. It didn’t take long before the first people were once again surfing over the crowd.
Jinjer delivered a great mix of their work, though dominated by their current release "Duél", which had only come out earlier this year. The sheer energy jumped straight from the stage into the audience, who followed the band without resistance. Every song was sung along loudly, arms were flying through the air, and it was simply overwhelming. As the sun slowly set, the light show on stage finally became more visible, enhancing the impressive atmosphere even further. After an hour, the show concluded with “Pisces” from their 2016 album "King Of Everything", and unfortunately the band had to leave the stage. Though to thunderous applause from the crowd.
The performance was truly like a hurricane and was the one I had been looking forward to the most that day (alongside Opeth, who were up next). I had wanted to see Jinjer live for a very long time, but somehow it had never worked out until now. All the better that it finally happened today. The band has been heavily hyped in recent years (likely also due to the war in Ukraine), but in my opinion absolutely deservedly so. Their incredibly impressive blend of different musical styles like Metalcore, Djent, Groove Metal, and strong Progressive Metal influences makes their music truly unique. For me, definitely the highlight of the day and an absolute concert recommendation!