“We are still getting compared to artists that have nothing to do with us. And not always good or talented artists”: Jinjer’s Tatiana Shmayluk takes aim at the term “female-fronted band”

Jinjer vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk has unloaded on the term “female-fronted band”, saying that she’s sick of being piled in with other women in the heavy metal scene, even if she sounds nothing like them.

Talking in the new issue of Metal Hammer, Shmayluk says “we’re still going through this bullshit today” when asked what she thinks of the term “female-fronted band”.

She elaborates: “We are still getting compared to artists that have nothing to do with us. And not always good or talented artists, and I feel very, very fucking offended by that. Because some people, they cannot sing, they don’t hit the notes! Then I get people saying, ‘Oh, she’s doing better than you, she does it better than you, she has this personality, she has...’ Oh my god! Leave me alone! That kind of stuff really pisses me off.”

The singer adds that, when she started her career, she was attempting to copy Randy Blythe from groove metal stars Lamb Of God. However, instead of being compared to him, her voice gets likened to women that she never sought to emulate.

“I get a lot of comparisons and comments comparing me with [former Arch Enemy vocalist] Angela Gossow,” she continues. “I never wanted to sound like her. Some people told me, ‘Why don’t you colour your hair? Why don’t you dye your hair blue like Alissa [White-Gluz, former Arch Enemy vocalist]?’ But why would I? I don’t get it.”

It’s not the first time Shmayluk has spoken about sexism in metal. Talking to Hammer in 2022, the singer expressed her surprise over the fact that so many people still seem to be “impressed” when they see that a woman can scream.

“When I was an 18-year-old girl with no internet, I knew there was a band called Holy Moses [German thrash metallers] with a female on the vocals who did crazy stuff,” she said. “Maybe we impress the younger generation, but the older generation already knew. Sometimes I’m annoyed, but then you say, ‘OK, well, I didn’t see a hummingbird until I was 35 years old.’ It’s always a right time to discover new stuff. It’s great that screaming women are a phenomenon.”

Jinjer released their latest album, Duél, last year and will start a European headline tour in Cologne on January 23. Fellow progressive metal bands Unprocessed and Textures will serve as support acts. See all dates via Jinjer’s website.

The full interview with Shmayluk is in the new issue of Metal Hammer. This month’s edition also contains a discussion with Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine, as the band prepare to release their final album, and a preview of all the essential metal albums set to drop in 2026. Order your copy now and get it delivered directly to your door.