Jenner – Prove Them Wrong

Jenner’s sophomore album Prove Them Wrong has been a great way to start the review process of this year. Despite the stance suggested by the title it’s unlikely the Serbian trio will have anything to prove to anybody who heard the furiously creative debut To Live is to Suffer, and on this album’s strength, even less after this album drops. While much has changed in the 6 years between albums, including guitarist and vocalist Aleksandra being the only remaining founding member, thankfully little has changed in the conviction, musical variety or infectious energy of Jenner.

This being the case, Prove Them Wrong represents a huge step forward for a band that were already very proficient and pumped out tune after tune of thoughtful, energetic music. Continuing in their three pronged attack that blends traditional heavy metal, thrash and speed metal in equal measure, Jenner show themselves just as home crooning soulfully over a beautiful melody as they are kicking your head in. The fact that this frequently happens within the same song but without any kind of jerky clashes of sound is something I feel even some very established bands in the same arena could learn a lot from Jenner’s abilities with.

I’m loathe to take issue with anything on Prove Them Wrong, it’s an exciting barrage of excellent, well played tunes from start to finish. If one was to take issue, it’s likely that you’d come back that though it’s rare to hear these genres so fluidly brought together, individually there aren’t any new ideas being brought into thrash, speed or trad metal on the album. There aren’t any bad ones either though, and at an early point in terms of releases for the band, I feel that right now, the fact that the alchemy of the genres is so fluid is pretty mindblowing. Even greater things clearly await for this band, but they’ve dropped a hell of a second stepping stone here.

Prove Them Wrong is everything I felt I wanted from a follow-up full length from the live grenade that was To Live is to Suffer. Nothing great is sacrificed, anything loose has been tightened up, and perhaps vitally, several years of fluctuating activity and line-up changes don’t seem to have damaged the proficiency or chemistry of musicianship. Jenner are a power to be reckoned with in old-school metal, and I hope these Serbian powerhouses continue to flourish.