Gig Review: Jinjer + Kittie at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney

Live review: Jinjer and Kittie at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney on Sunday, February 23 2025

By BRENDAN DELAVERE

UKRAINIAN metal juggernaut Jinjer are moving from strength to strength. On this, their third jaunt down under, the quartet is playing its biggest venues yet. Possibly too big: a Sunday night at the Hordern isn’t an easy fill and with the sides curtained off, it’s clear that tonight won’t be close to a sell out.

It’s not often that a nineties band gets a second chance at success but after a decade long hiatus, Canadian metal quartet Kittie is back, stronger than ever. With an incredible debut that sits firmly in the annals of nu metal history, the Lander sisters have backed it up with last year’s heavy-as-fuck release Fire. Blending thrash, death and groove, Morgan Lander leads from the front with hair flicks, heavy licks and a death growl harder than most.

Opening with the title track from their latest release, the band kicked straight into “I’ve Failed You” and “Cut Throat”. Old school slice “Spit” with its nu metal tinge got a solid response from the crowd. Last here for Soundwave in 2012, it’s easy to forget that Kittie’s catalogue is a helluva lot heavier than one remembers. Lander weaves clean vocal melodies between an onslaught of guttural roars. The crowd was sizeable but certainly not packed, a small mosh pit pushed its way into being for the monstrous “Brackish”, Mercedes Lander with the double kick and fast paced vocal bridge. Closing with “We Are The Lamb”, the four piece kicked it up a notch to end their set, this reviewer was stoked that the band got a second wind in their career.

Three tours in five years, Jinjer love Australia. The fan base they’ve built has been growing exponentially, going from small venues to opening sets at Good Things Festival to here. Though the room had filled out more, the Hordern was  still far from bursting. That just meant that there was room for a nice sized moshpit right in the centre.

Backed by a huge LED screen, Jinjer hit the stage running, though I use the term loosely with guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov and bassist Eugene Abdukhanov taking their places either side of frontwoman Tatiana Shmayluk, not straying too far from their respective spots on stage. “Just Another”, “Teacher Teacher”, their groove-inflected metal, teetering on prog and djent at times had a small portion of the crowd moving, the rest happy to nod along, arms folded. One punter on the barrier will be waking up with a sore neck, head banging non stop for the entirety of the set, hard and fast during “Fast Draw”.

Apparently it was “time to pour your beers into cups” for “Green Serpent”, this reviewer not sure what that particular banter meant but the crowd cheered as Tatiana whipped her hair back and forth. Latest record Duél featured heavily on the set, with the title track belting us a new one, and “Someone’s Daughter” being dedicated to all the ladies in the crowd, “Sorry men, we love you too though”. Tatiana’s massive vocal range really takes the driver’s seat on the latest record, soaring cleans and belly rending screams complement the fiddly bass lines and metallic riffing.

Whilst the banter was kept to a minimum, it was the complete lack of political commentary that surprised this reviewer, not a mention of the current state of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the bullshit US intervention and alliance with Putin, no comment.

Closing with “Rogue”, the band were back moments later to close out the show with an encore. “Are you sleepy? Time to wake up, this is ‘Pisces’!” screams Shmayluk. The circle pit getting a few punters going on a Sunday night. Despite the smaller than expected crowd, the band gave us a world class exhibit in heavy metal, fingers crossed for a sold out show next tour.