By Nicholas Kobe, Staff Writer

[Napalm Records; 2025]

Rating: 6/10

Key Tracks: “Tantrum,” “Someone’s Daughter,” “Fast Draw”

Ukrainian metal act Jinjer is facing a pretty daunting challenge as one of metal’s first major releases of 2025. As one of the year’s first albums, the band is releasing into a pretty wide playing field, although it’s difficult to stand out from the news cycle in favor of the new hotness. However, Jinjer is as good a candidate as any. With their new studio album Duél, the band doesn’t divert much from the path of 2021’s Wallflowers. On one hand, Jinjer’s talent alone ensures that Duél still stands on a firm foundation of great writing, instrumentation and performances. On the other, the band misses the loftier heights that could’ve allowed Duél to loom over the rest of 2025. 

On a technical level, there’s no room to complain about Duél. Instrumental performances across the board are phenomenally executed. Their complexities are aided by very good production, allowing for clarity without sacrificing any of the grit. The bass playing in particular from Eugene Kostyuk is a prime example of this. No matter if he’s adding a surprisingly groovy underbelly to via slapping, or complementing a slower, melodic line, he’s not only doing a good job of grounding and complimenting the other instruments, he’s actually audible. Unfortunately, that can be a rarity in heavy metal. 

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While I choose to single out Kostyuk, this same point can be made for the rest of the band, who take very challenging leaps in a heartbeat through the album. It’s probably most noticeable from lead vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk, who excels on every front you could ask. For a long time Shmayluk has been one of the most celebrated female vocalists in metal, and on Duél, it’s not exactly hard to see why.

The problems with Duél lie somewhat in those strengths. Despite Jinjer’s ability to seamlessly flow from section to section, and track to track, the lack of clear division on this record leads to it becoming a bit indistinguishable. Even with all the transitions, tempo and even time signature changes, Jinjer isn’t changing throughout this record. Sure, a cohesive record, especially in prog, is important, but Jinjer goes a little too far. They remember to have sonic diversity if you look at each song independently, but as a whole album, Jinjer is playing the same hand song after song. 

Now, the hand Jinjer is playing is good, especially as the record draws to a close with particularly memorable tracks. “Fast Draw” is one of the band’s best straight-forward death metal cuts, pummeling with a ferocity that stands toe to toe with bands far less progressive. 

In terms of Jinjers smooth movement between slow and fast sections, “Someone’s Daughter” is another particularly standout example, not only on the musically, but also lyrically.The song’s focus on using force to smash patriarchal oppression has been done before, but Jinjer’s focus on shedding the title of “someone’s daughter” and becoming your own person allows the lyrics to be honed to a fine, effective and dangerous point. Overall, the lyrical content of Duél generally stands to this level of quality from crashing an old-timey ball in “Tantrum” to the more visceral and evocative tracks like “Rouge” and “Green Serpent.”

Make no mistake, Duél is an album of extremely well crafted songs, especially if the obtuseness that’s common with progressive metal isn’t a barrier to entry. The record’s only shortcoming is the inability to look out into the bigger picture. It doesn’t matter how well or dynamically you are within a single track, if you do that for the whole record, it’s going to suffer. Despite it’s one shortcoming being a rather large one, Duél by Jinjer is still a strong album. It’s well worth the time to think it over, and pick apart your favorite sections, riffs or lyrics. Even if as a whole, it fails to be greater than the sum of its parts. 

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/0axS4YlYa1FxtNPbouRE69?si=yjtL1SJzQUiSQcWongzNkw