Jinjer Brings Duél To Toronto
- Nolan McBride
- Jun 12
- 2 min read
The long wait between doors and the Entheos opening set was excruciating, the whole crowd itching for a single note of music, which is exactly how Entheos started their set, playing out of view before taking the stage and immediately captivating the crowd. Their loud booming instrumentals, partnered with their vocalist, Chaney Crabb’s incredible heavy metal growl, made them feel like giants descending upon the crowd. The way she moved on stage, head banging, screaming and running around her bandmates before taking her spot atop a raised bit of the stage to further cement the giant like feel of the performance. Chaney absolutely commanded the room for the entire set, urging the crowd to form a circle pit, which immediately formed at her request. The band played old and new music and teased an upcoming album for later this year much to the delight of their audience, upping the already electric energy of the room, setting the stage for the headliner to come perfectly
Jinjer brings genre-bending metal sound to the Danforth Music Hall on the Toronto stop of their newest album Duél. Vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk immediately took control of the room with her stunning chainmail outfit, accompanying her absolutely mesmerizing stage presence, which immediately hushed the entire venue. She began with her beautiful melodic vocals, accompanied by smooth instrumentals from the rest of the band, but quickly transitioned into a heavy metal growl from her, with the rest of the band following suit and shaking the entire room with their booming noise. When I initially began listening to Jinjer I completely expected that the deeper vocals came from a second vocalist, and upon seeing Tatiana become what felt almost possessive on stage made it impossible to take my eyes off of her. The way she moved on stage, crouching down to the level of the audience, made every word out of her mouth feel more personal as she made eye contact with the crowd as she sang.
Drummer Vladislav Ulasevich, guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov and bassist Eugene Kostyuk took the extremely technical and progressive music from the studio and expanded it tenfold, making a medium sized show feel like a sold out arena show, which are definitely in Jinjer’s near future. Everything they played felt incredibly intentional, and watching the crowd react in unison and mosh in a way that felt completely controlled by the band on stage. During slower moments, it felt almost like the band was puppeteering those partaking in the pit, moving them slowly around the open pit, before cutting them lose whenever the instrumentals rose, letting the crowd exploded into a flurry as they played and Tatiana’s screaming vocals took over the room. The screen behind the band also aided in this feeling, as everything happening behind them seemed to match what happened in front of them, as if they had complete control of the entire room with everything they did on stage. With this only being the third date of the North American leg of the Duél tour, I have no doubt that this tour will be an undeniable highlight amongst metal tours for 2026.
