More often than not with metal bands, it’s one or two guitar players who oversee the lion’s share of the writing process, meticulously piecing together the riffs at the heart of every song.
Ukrainian metal quartet Jinjer, however, opted for a different creative path, with drummer Vladislav Ulasevich masterminding both melody and rhythm. It might be an unorthodox approach to composition, but the fruits of his efforts have resulted in the group becoming front-runners in a new wave of exciting heavy music alongside Sleep Token and Spiritbox.
Some guitar players might struggle to keep their ego in check in such circumstances, but not Roman Ibramkhalilov, who believes the quality of the music should always come first.
“These songs were written by our drummer, like the last few albums,” he says about their fifth full-length, titled Duél. “It’s my sound, but they’re not my riffs. Vladislav plays a lot of instruments, so when he joined the band in 2016, he started to come up with more and more ideas. He’ll have seven or eight ideas at the beginning of each album process and all of them will be great.
“We don’t care who did what; it’s all about how good the songs are. If the idea is good, we move forward. Maybe he has inspirations that I don’t, but whatever he’s doing, it just works. Together we are Jinjer.”
What would you say are the hardest riffs on this album?
“I don’t find our heavy riffs that hard. It’s the softer parts that can be more challenging, because I need to play those ideas as cleanly as possible. It’s especially hard on stage, because you’re sweating and the lights are going on and off. That’s probably the toughest thing about playing guitar in this band; we have sections where I’m playing lines across every string going up and down.
“For example, the song Hedonist has verse parts that are like that. For people learning our songs, I guess Tantrum has riffs that are fast and require a lot of co-ordination and control, because using a lot of gain can lead to unwanted noises.”
So how do you go about staying in control of all that distortion?
“The main thing about our sound is to keep things as natural as possible. We don’t use active pickups. We try not to use noise gates, because it will eat into the tone a little bit. We also like to use our hands to control the noise, rather than having presets or extra channels to change the tone.
“I just play harder for the heavy bits and softer for the quieter moments. There are no buttons to press. I’m lucky, my guitar and amp allow me to have more dynamics. I can control it all myself. I guess it’s probably easier to play with a processor or active pickups, [but] it will always sound the same and you have less control.”
It definitely feels like some of the time changes are quite out there…
“It’s funny, you don’t need crazy signatures to confuse people. You can have an idea in 4/4 but make it as confusing as fuck! Someone’s Daughter has some unusual time changes, but it’s the accents rather than the signature.
“I guess it’s a bit like how Meshuggah might write a riff. But I need to hear the snare to get it right. If not, I might play it wrong. Often the parts that don’t sound hard can be hard and other parts that sound complex can be quite easy.”
There aren’t really any guitar leads in Jinjer, but some of the riffs can feel as challenging as a solo…
You need to play fast metal rhythms to be in this band and also be able to get all around the neck quickly
“You need to play fast metal rhythms to be in this band and also be able to get all around the neck quickly. We use some crazy chords and when we are making an album we know which ones will be a pain in the ass to play live, but we do it anyway. I don’t care; if it sounds great, we have to keep it.
“Sometimes our drummer will ask us, ‘Are you sure you will be okay playing this bit every night?’ and the answer is always yes. I make sure of that. It’s all rhythm, anyway. There are no solos. You can just be a rhythm guitarist and play in this band, which is great for me because I’m purely a rhythm guy. I’m not good at solos. I’ve never wanted to play them or learn about those techniques.”
Earlier in the year you partnered up with Jackson for your Pro Series MDK HT6 Baritone guitar. Is that what we’re hearing on the album?
“Yeah! And I need to thank everyone who was involved in that process: people like Mike Tempesta, Peter Wichers and Tim Hillier-Brook. My signature is made out of ash and the guitar I play was built by Mike Shannon in the custom shop. I feel like it has a really grainy sound with a lot of low-end. It’s a really important part of my tone.”
What else would you say is important for nailing the Jinjer sound?
“I swear by my Boss Waza Craft Blues Driver, which works great with my Mesa/Boogie Royal Atlantic head. I’ve tried a lot of different pedals and never thought the Blues Driver would be good because the name makes you think it’s not for metal.
“It took a long time for me to get round to checking one out but I found it helps my guitars sit in the mix better and cut through against all the cymbals and bass, while also adding a little more saturation.
“I find Tube Screamers take away too much bass. The cabinet is also important; I use Coffee Custom cabinets, which are made in the Czech Republic, fitted with the Mick Thomson DV-77 speakers by Eminence. I bought them to try out and was blown away, so I’ve stuck with those ones ever since.”
- Duél is out now via Napalm.
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