Before I say anything, if you never heard Jinjer, watch this music clip first.

The video was so tastefully shot it’s almost a crime. But ok, anyway, now we can talk.

People not used to listening to metal – and to be honest, a lot that do listen to metal – always get shocked when the singer starts to growl, usually because that was unexpected, despite the bridge buildup, since the song was so mellow up to that point. Another reason to be shocked is because of how clean she can growl, and if one is used to listening to metal growls, it’s possible to understand most of what she sings – and what isn’t, it’s due to the deliberately broken prosody or, possibly, accent.

So, ok, yeah, she’s amazing, but so is everyone playing with her here: the drums are hitting perfectly that ghost notes and doing some accents; the bass alternates between finger-playing, following the melody, and tapping, to harmonically complement the electric guitar; and the guitar is doing a marvelous job of keeping up with the melody, guiding the harmony with a bit of dissonance, and leading into the transitions with the drums. And everyone seems pretty comfortable – it’s clear that they are in their element.

More than that, if someone tries to count the beats of the music, they won’t match the traditional 4/4 that follows most metal songs. If I didn’t count it wrongly – and bear with me, because I do know a bit of music theory, but I’m far from an expert – the mellow parts are in 7/8, the bridge is 3/4, and the chorus is in 4/4. Usually, when time signature changes, they are heavily telegraphed and the change in the accents is pretty obvious. Not here. The song here seems to keep an almost constant rhythm while all these changes are happening, and their transitions are smooth. From a technical point of view, it’s amazing.

Also, there’s the fact that this is a live session. It obviously had post-production work, as it’s possible to hear different vocal effects phasing in and out throughout the song, or even doubling vocals here and there.

And believe me, their live performance seems to be equally amazing. Their song Perennial has an official music video, but my favorite version is this live clip from Wacken, where we can see the singer’s stage presence, her body language interpreting the lyrics, and how everyone acts during the changes between the mellow and heavy parts. Everyone seems pretty comfortable up on that stage, and they all sound good – as good as if they were in a studio, I would say.

There’s another equally impressive video from their song Judgement (& Punishment) that, not only has a very unexpected fusion of musical genres, but is also a “one-take vocal performance”, showing how quickly and smoothly the singer transitions between the growling and the “normal” singing. But again, a live version from one of their shows seems better, in my opinion, because then we can see the whole band working on that very, very, smooth and incredible changes between the musical styles. That small section at 1:25 is, seriously, out of this world.

And it’s like, I’ve seen my share of bands doing amazing stuff, but what impresses me about Jinjer is not only the quality of their composition, and not only the fusion of genres they are able to pull off, but also how consistent they are and how amazing they sound and are in live performances. That’s why I’m obsessed with the band.

I really hope I get to see them one day. Their performance of Teacher, Teacher! seems amazing.