Jinn- Erased

Jinn’s website describes the Salt Lake City band as “experimental industrial,” but their debut full-length album is a lot more accessible than you’d expect. Instead of grating noise or machine shop percussion in the vein of Throbbing Gristle or Einstürzende Neubauten, Jinn’s music incorporates elements of industrial rock, goth, metal, hardcore and even a touch of trip-hop. The result is music that you wouldn’t be surprised to hear on the radio, but that is nonetheless powerful and creative. Album opener “Forever Alone” starts things off with deceptively gentle guitar strums and lead singer Tim Neu’s disaffected vocals, but just when you begin to relax it bursts into jarring feedback and raw-throated screams. “Desiderium” anchors down soaring progressive guitar work with crunchy electronic breakbeats, while “I Am No Better” is dark contemporary metal in the vein of A Perfect Circle with more punk and industrial influences and a lot of eerie keyboards. What makes Jinn’s work so special, though, is the dichotomy between delicate arrangements and moments of unbearable brutality; “Screwtape” and “Plagued,” for example, are ballads for all intents and purposes, driven by melancholy piano melodies, but Neu’s hardcore-influenced vocal brutality gives them as much emotional impact – if not more – than the faster, more conventionally “heavy” tracks. The epic-length “Omnia Vanitas” that ends this album incorporates everything that makes Jinn’s music so intriguing, alternating back and forth between frantic metal and passages of strings and whispers. It won’t be long before these guys have a record deal, but if you’re into heavy crossover acts like Bleeding Through, Tool or even Korn, you might want to check them out now so you can tell your friends you were into Jinn “before it was trendy to like them.”

Visit Jinn online at www.jinnmusic.com.