With great power comes great responsibility…yes, that old cliché. Yet regardless of how overused that line may be, when you wield a hammer of the Gods you surely need to hit your mark. Control is underrated, and a lot aim to abandon the protocols of precision in favour of pure decimation, but a loose canon wastes the talent of a marksman…for even Gods need skill.

When you first hear a band like JINJER you can't help but expect carnage. The grooves, the blastbeasts and the superhuman vocals are bound to put some yellow tape around the scene. Yet JINJER are not just a colossus of destruction, they are an agent of impeccable discipline and mechanical execution. And this they proved twofold as they stopped by London's Underworld on their first ever UK & Ireland tour following their huge European outing with ARCH ENEMY. With support from KARYBDIS, A TRUST UNCLEAN, and FROM SORROW TO SERENITY, they were all set to bring an extreme beginning to the week on that Monday night. Those who knew what to expect got theirs and then some, and those who didn't…well, they are now enlightened to the power of the beast.

First on stage were the London Melodeth natives KARYBDIS, who opened up the night with distinction and proved that opening acts are more than worthy of applause.

 

The band serenaded the already quite populous crowd with their tight blend of melody and pinpoint chaos, leaving them to revel in brute instrumental heaviness whilst soaked in stunning guitar lines.

 

Things then got a little heavier as A TRUST UNCLEAN mounted the stage and demanded some of the venue's attention. Aggression started to pour in through the cracks in the walls as the band spewed their electronically tinged Death Metal to the now coagulating audience of hungry metalheads.

 

Although slightly more jagged than KARYBDIS, the band were still major crowd pleasers – particularly for those harbouring a touch more rage than others – and carried the groove of the night along.

 

The hands were now raised and the beers began to spill, for the night was in full effect as Glaswegian Groove Metalcorists FROM SORROW TO SERENITY finished their set-up and began spraying the crowd with solemn Hardcore melodies whilst beating them with electronically-laced breakdowns.

 

Vocalist Gaz King hosted the enterprise like a true Punk frontman of the new age, and as the fans began to mosh it proved that FROM SORROW TO SERENITY were definitely one of the night's favourites.

 

Before long the planets had aligned and all of the stars pointed to the stage as JINJER's instrumental section made its appearance; followed by a triumphant entrance from the band's personal deity and vocal badass Tatiana Shmaylyuk.

 

The band then went on to send the crowd into a frenzy as they kicked into "Who's Gonna Be The One", unleashing a session of moshing galore that squeezed the front rows into juice as the band emanated an astrological kaleidoscope of their top hits including "Sit Stay Roll Over", "I Speak Astronomy" and "Cloud Factory".  The band even dug into "Желаю Значит Получу" a somewhat deep cut off their 2015 album "Cloud Factory" that only Russian speakers (like yours truly) could understand.

 

Nevertheless, riffs are universal, and on that night the Ukranian quartet showed that not only can they lace the groove, the can keep it tight.  With all of the members being at the top of their form, JINJER demonstrated their command of Metal by performing an impeccable set worthy of a veteran band, and the once "best kept secret" Ukranian outfit had yet again proved that they are ready to take the Metal galaxy by storm.