JINJER at ACE OF SPADES, SACRAMENTO, 10/28/21

Something told me walking in to Ace this night that I would be bored with three bands I really knew nothing about and have never really listened to, with the exception of Suicide Silence who I haven’t seen live since Mitch Lucker was still the singer. However, I ended up not just being thoroughly entertained, but found myself really appreciating what Jinjer is all about and rocking the F*** out!

I’ll also be the first to admit that listening to Jinjer on the way to the show, I wasn’t sure what I thought of them, were they metal? Were they some other form of djent hard rock/metal I’ve never heard? I didn’t even know how to classify them in my head, but I had friends that swore to me that I would enjoy the show, so here I was.

First was All Hail The Yeti that I also had never really given a solid listen to in the past, but felt like their doomy set was very interesting and entertaining, but also found myself feeling like I could have had more clean vocals from bassist Nicholas Diltz.

Soon after, Suicide Silence came on, who I believe may be one of the last remaining popular Grind Core bands, and let me tell you, the lead guitars for this band and incredible to hear live and truly do live up to the hype and energy they bring live!

Then came Jinjer, again, who I knew absolutely nothing about but the band walked on stage and singer Tatiana Shmayluk stood above me screaming at the crowd and getting them pumped I knew I was going to like this set. They opened with “Call Me a Symbol” and immediately the crowd went crazy, pushing side to side and singing along with Tatiana and I also knew that my assumptions were completely wrong.

As they ripped through the first three songs (outlined below) and I kept shooting, I also know that while I’m shooting bands, if I start head banging in an attempt to keep my composure I know at that point that I’m hooked and I’m a fan! Once I left the photo pit to enjoy the remainder of their set, which I both couldn’t take my eyes off of because of the fantastic lighting setup they were running, but mostly because I was really digging the music. I feel like I want to see them tour with Gojira or Mastodon because they fit right in with those bands, but also bring a Between The Buried and Me kind of atmosphere; all of which bring together a really interesting and nuanced sound that performs just as well (if not better) live than it does on the album. Jinjer is climbing the ranks of the metal community and rightfully so, I’m sure soon we will be seeing them headlining bigger and bigger shows. Kudos to them for converting another fan!

SETLIST: