JINJER Directed 'All The Negativity' From Ukraine's War With Russia Into New Music: 'It's More Aggressive'

In a new interview with Primordial Radio conducted at this past weekend's Download festival in the United Kingdom, bassist Eugene Abdukhanov of Ukrainian modern metallers JINJER spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to the band's 2021 album "Wallflowers". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Honestly, we have most of the upcoming album written. I mean, in terms of demos, music-wise, no vocals over it, but just music-wise, it's already written, most of the new album. So we are waiting for a starting point to go to the studio, record, work on this, rearrange. This time we will have a lot of time for this. So definitely after we are done with touring, the next step will be making the new album."

On the topic of the musical direction of the new JINJER material, Eugene said: "It's more aggressive. I think all the negativity [stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine], we just directed it into the music — one hundred percent. So there are songs which were written literally under shelling, under bombing. Vlad [Vladislav Ulasevich, drums] was writing a lot during the siege of Kyiv… I couldn't even pick up an instrument when things were happening around me. He was sitting and writing with a guitar. As soon as the siege was over and the Russian army just stepped back from Kyiv and things kind of calmed down, then it clicked for me; I started writing. What I'm saying is every person is different in terms of creativity. But such things happening around you cannot but have a huge impact on the creative process, on the message you put into music — just generally on your music."

Earlier in the month, Abdukhanov told MoreCore.TV that "eighty percent" of the music for the new JINJER album has already been written. Regarding the overall sound of the new JINJER music, Eugene said: "There always will be something that has never been [there] before. Otherwise there is no need to make new music.

"It is hard to say now what exactly it's gonna be," he continued. "And to some extent, I just don't want to make new spoilers. But it's gonna be definitely different from the previous album, for sure.

"On the 'Wallflowers' album, I think we went even [in the] doom metal direction, to some extent, because there are some very slow and very moody parts," he added. "On the new record, to some extent, in some way, it's going the other way — maybe death metal direction, something like this. Something really powerful, again groovy and something that just hits you, punches you straight to the face."

JINJER played its first live show since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on June 10, 2022 at last year's edition of the Greenfield Festival, which was held in Interlaken, Switzerland. The concert took place just days after it was announced that JINJER had been given permission from authorities to leave their war-torn nation and tour Europe as ambassadors of the country.

JINJER frontwoman Tatiana Shmayluk told Bloodstock TV at last year's Bloodstock Open Air festival that the war in Ukraine hadn't served as a powerful surge of cathartic inspiration for any of the band's new music: "Not really," she said. "I don't know why. Honestly, I've written some war songs way before JINJER, first of all, and way before war even started in Ukraine. And I don't know how, but it's easy for me to write about war when it's not happening around me. But when it started, I was absolutely devastated and paralyzed creatively. I cannot write about that. I still cannot process that. I think it's such a great trauma that it takes years and years to process, not only for me but mostly for the citizens of Ukraine, for the victims. I really think that it's not my time to write another war song right now."

But Eugene clarified: "Actually, we've never had war songs. We've never written anything which is militaristic or anything like that… We have a number of songs in our discography which are peacemaking songs, songs which call for peace, and calling them war songs can be a bit misleading because it may just make people think differently of what they really are, to be honest.

"Tatiana says that, well, she hasn't written any lyrics but we have written a number of compositions musically in these circumstances since the war started. So definitely there is a creative reflection of the events already," he revealed.

This summer, JINJER will return to America as the support act for DISTURBED on the latter band's 2023 headline "Take Back Your Life" tour. Additional support will come from BREAKING BENJAMIN.