Excuse the direct wording used to start this off but let's be honest at the time our mind sets were, here comes another tour, another international band spreading its metaphorical wings for its first ever tour down under and yes we were bloody excited and ready to have our ear canals punished yet again by another insanely talented band!

For so long us Australian lovers of metal and all things heavy had been spoilt rotten with countless tours of nearly every heavy metal band this world has produced gracing us with their presence and prowess year after year. Now before a hand reaches out of the page and proceeds to choke me, I must point out, us Australian's on the East Coast are the spoilt ones.... now the breathing can get back to normal and we can continue to get into what very well may be one of the coolest ways for a live album to come to life and to continue existing until the end of (our) times in the form of being released on all platforms.

For the Ukrainian four piece this wasn't just any tour this was a debut, an adventure into uncharted waters and a test (of sorts) to see how far a reach the almighty Jinjer had spread its version of progressive, abrasive and downright gritty metal sound to the said metal masses!

Now unless you were stranded on a deserted island (in which I strongly suggest you return immediately for a little while longer) or you were the only human left on earth without the "interwebs" then you all know what happened at the end of March in 2020.

But let's not focus on that because us metal heads are positive folk and you readers want to know what the hell I'm building up to here! Well a chat with Eugene Abdiukhanov, the bass player of Jinjer who was able to give us a real insight into their latest offering entitled Alive In Melbourne.

It was early March and Jinjer were making their way around this mighty continent at a rate of knots that only few can maintain. As they headed into Melbourne's iconic Max Watts (formerly the HiFi Bar for those playing at home) to grace the locals with another blistering show a proposal was given to the quartet, a single human would offer and record their Melbourne live set in full! "We didn't even plan to make it, it was this spontaneous decision, we decided to do the recording during the soundcheck in Melbourne" Eugene informs us "Somebody just showed up and told us there is this guy who wants to do the video, make a video recording and we said ok we will make audio on our side, and this is how it happened! There was no percolation there was no plan, making a recording in Melbourne wasn't on our list at all, and here we are with a live album" he added

Just like that Alive In Melbourne is born out of a late off the cuff decision, and it captured what would be for a select few thousand metal fans a chunk of what would be the last international band we would see still to this day! "It's important to know but on the other hand it's the biggest thing because I wish things were different, I wish everyone was enjoying other bands shows who would have been on tour, in a perfect world/ parallel universe I wish things were like that but it is what it is and we need to be strong and go through this shape happening now and I'm sure the world will be able to get back to normal life!" Eugene pleadingly adds.

With that being said we're all learning what is becoming a new normal and it's no secret that the world will be different after the fact. But will this pause (in a live music sense) stifle our love for live music?! Well, speaking for others isn't a normal pass time for me but on this occasion, I will stand on an imaginary soapbox and scream "Hell no it won't" *insert fist in air here. When asking Eugene the reply was deep and honest;

"I cannot wait for this, I'm looking forward to the day where I will go on stage in front of 1000 people the same way we did in Melbourne, no masks,...