Live Review: Jinjer w/Textures and Unprocessed at O2 Forum Kentish Town London!

Tonight brings the European “Duél” Tour 2026 to London with the resurrected Textures and resurgent Unprocessed supporting Ukraine’s finest export Jinjer. The Progressive Metalcore headliners have come a long way since we first saw them live in 2017 at a sold out Camden Underworld off the back of their “King Of Everything” album, growing exponentially year on year. The outstanding quality of their three studio albums, an EP and two live albums since that show have made them a global force thanks to their strong work ethic and relentless touring schedule. As a result when this tour started on 23rd January in Cologne Germany most of the shows had low ticket warnings or were sold out and tonight at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town London is no different. It’s the band’s third and final show in England before heading over to Paris so you know the crowd is going to want to make this one count…

Prior to this tour a reformed Textures [8/10] released their first album in a decade in the well received “Genotype“. Most of that time was spent smelling the roses as the Dutch Progressive Metal act, known as pioneers of the Math Metal genre had disbanded in 2018 but here they are tonight, greeted with warm applause as they take to a stage that can barely contain them. The depth and complexity of their sound is a joy to behold, the six piece offering up a career spanning set with three songs from the new album in the 35 minutes they get in front of the sold out crowd. “Void“, “Closer to The Unknown” and “Measuring the Heavens” all sit perfectly amongst their older material, the interplay between the keyboards and the guitars spellbinding. Daniël de Jongh has the audience hanging on his every word with his impressive vocal performance tonight, the warmth of his clean parts as wonderful as the harshness of the unclean ones. Does it feel strange that a band with such a legacy would be opening on a tour like this? Yes, it does but when you’re returning after such a long hiatus you never know how well you’re going to be received. That being said, judging by the reaction of the crowd after the breathless heavy finale that is “Laments of an Icarus“, we know that in a year’s time they’re going to be circling back as a headliner if all is right with the world.

As with Textures, German Progressive Metal act Unprocessed [9/10] also released a new album with this tour on the horizon in “Angel“. As a band the four piece have faced their fair share of criticism over the past decade or so having twisted, contorted and shape shifted their sound between the heavy and the melodic, writing songs that range from what could be considered Progressive Death Metal to things of more of a Plini style. The surprise with tonights set is that they devote seven songs to the new album with the other three being from 2023’s “…And Everything In Between“, playing nothing that came before that. It’s an interesting move to cut the 11.8 million streaming fan favourite “Deadrose” from the set but it’s toast, the band choosing songs from the heavier register for this tour. A dark spoken word introduction ushers in “111” before the band hammer out “Sleeping With Ghosts” and “Beyond Heaven’s Gate” and it genuinely feels like the audience have been caught off guard by the heavier nature of these songs before “Thrash” and “Glass” back to back mid set opens things up a little. The problem was never the bands musicianship or technicality, the issue was always around their Pop sensibilities which unlike Siamese always seemed to threaten their existence in front of a Metal crowd. On tonight’s evidence however it seems that they have evolved once more, finding a better balance with bassist David John Levy taking the role of Paleface Swiss vocalist Marc “Zelli” Zellweger on “Solara” before a brutal rendition of “Terrestrial” absolutely crushes. The neck snapping, spine juddering rush of the staccato riff breaks is electrifying and so with tonights performance complete and the mosh pit left in a sweaty mess, it seems that Unprocessed have rediscovered what they had with “Covenant” in 2018.

By the time Jinjer [10/10] take to the stage it’s almost empty, free from the other bands gear, allowing vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk, guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov and bassist Eugene Abdukhanov the space to roam in front of a raised platform upon which Vladislav Ulasevich delivers his percussive battery. When they begin to play the title track of their new album “Duél” that platform becomes part of a screen behind the four piece offering visuals to accompany each song. “Green Serpent” sees an Ouroboros moving in concentric circles before the Hardcore punch of “Fast Draw” finds Shmayluk returning to the kind of vicious unclean vocals that grabbed everyone’s attention a decade ago. She’s on fire tonight, giving playful, sultry and theatrical performances throughout an incredibly tight set, dancing and high kicking her way through every song as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. Abdukhanov gets a couple of moments in the spotlight with the band giving him particular attention during a pair of tapped bass solo parts. “Disclosure!” and “Teacher, Teacher!” are particularly good tonight, security kept busy by wave after wave of crowd surfers before the band return to were things really got moving for them with rousing renditions of “I Speak Astronomy” and “Pisces“. After a breathless near ninety minute set of fifteen songs with performed with vim, vigor and intensity Shmayluk jokes about the crowd being tired and needing to go home, blowing kisses as she leaves the stage. The obligatory chants of “one more song!” soon brings them back however, only for them to hit us with a sucker punch in the form of the brutal “Sit Stay Roll Over“. It’s wonderful to see Jinjer enjoying themselves tonight, the show a real performance on every level with the nuanced moments of each song shining through.