Saturday, 28 February 2026
Jinjer, a Ukrainian band that we at Norway Rock have seen rise from support at Rockefeller, to a tent and then the second stage at Tons of Rock, and now to a sold out Sentrum Scene, are still touring their Duél album from this time in 2025. It’s good to see that that record is still keeping the band on the road a year after release rather the tour closing after two or three months. As you’d expect, the album formed the backbone of the concert and the fan favourites from their other albums sitting around them to give the show some balance.
The start set the tone for the whole show, “Duél” itself, delivered with uncompromising punch and a healthy dose of groove. Keeping with the new material, we were taken straight into one of the other singles, “Green Serpent”, and then “Fast Draw” with barely a moment to breathe. The other numbers taken from the record were carefully spaced between the earlier tracks. They stood up well to the comparison. For example, the complex, episodic “Perennial” from “Micro” was a good foil for the emotionally-charged “Someone’s Daughter” which was reserved for later on, for maximum impact.
They have enough depth in their catalogue now that they can afford to play “Vortex” and “I Speak Astronomy” in the body of the set rather than keeping them for the encore. This is a sign of a band on top of their game, marshalling their material. Having said that, there were times when the juxtapositions felt a little “off”. While it’s important to emphasise the record that’s the subject of the tour, the undersigned isn’t quite convinced by putting “Green Serpent” straight after “Duél”. It might have been better to keep the pace as feverish as possible early on, as the impact of the start was so good – and there’s no shortage of songs that have that kind of tilt, like “Rogue” which didn’t sit quite so well at the end of the set between “Somone’s Daughter” and “Pisces”.
It’s not all darkness and chaos, either, like “Fast Draw” or “Tantrum” (which got a huge cheer), and the groove was clear again in “Kafka”, even with its curious off-kilter progressive motif. Pieces like “Kafka” show there’s enough music, enough melody and intrigue added to the dense, driving rhythms to give the ear something else to hold on to and whatever else you could say about the ordering of the set, that was well managed. At times, it felt like chaos but it was never really out of control. With no backing tracks and no additional musicians, the three instrumentalists have to carry the whole sound of the band, so Eugene Abdukhanov’s five-string bass playing, especially in higher registers, is more foregrounded. This leaves guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov space to play lead motifs and riffs without leaving the background thinned out too much. Vladislav Ulasevich’s drumming was, as ever, rigid and brutal without sounding mechanical. They remain, whatever else, supremely talented players and whether the polyrhythmic compositions and arrangements all sit well with you, there’s no doubting the talent.
However, it is, I suspect, Tatiana Shmayluk who remains the band’s true draw – her vocals alone stole the show. Her voice continues to improve over the years, growing in breadth and depth. Her clean vocals were clear and sonorous all through the range, not dropping off even at the very top end, like on “Kafka”. More and more, in live performance, she is able to use her voice with full dynamic control, not just relying on her natural tone and power. There’s menace, sadness, vulnerability, and irony, too. “Pisces”, which was the last piece before the encore, was a perfect case in point, her voice steeped in longing, affecting and nuanced. Her harsh vocals on the other hand were guttural and edgy, brutal and alien. Her articulation there remains more muddied, leaving the sound working more like another instrument. The effect is remarkable. More remarkable is how seamlessly she is able to switch between the two styles, like on “Disclosure!”. Her energy as the band’s frontwoman is also a critical part of the show. She used every part of the stage, dancing, gesturing, reaching out, and using a flick or twirl of her pink flamenco-style dress to underscore or counterpoint her words. She seemed to feel every moment.
Nor is there any forgetting who the band are and who they represent. While they have forgone their earlier blue-and-yellow catherine wheel motif as their backdrop, a bitter reminder of what is going on at home, some fans had brought a Ukrainian flag and waved it from the front rows the standing crowd. They remain cultural ambassadors for their people.
All in all, it was a well-executed show loudly appreciated by a sold-out crowd, with a set that was well balanced more in its choice of songs than perhaps the precise order, but with Shmayluk’s vocals on supreme form, they carried it. 4.5/6
Text: Alex Maines
Photography: Anne-Marie Forker
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