St. Petersburg. Russia’s Shinai was formed after Evgeniy Bolshakov’s previous band broke up. Looking to have full creative control and drive the direction of his endeavors, he started a new solo project last year and is now ready to show off the fruits of his labor.
Inspired by bands like Architects, Wage War, and Bleed from Within, Bolshakov initially started writing only technical deathcore, but with experience and after studying musical theory he started paying more attention to the harmonies, which opened his mind to other genres such as indie rock and pop. Taking inspiration from those, and refusing to settle into a single genre he creates a sincere sound that will pique the interest of both casual listeners and heavy music veterans. He shares his thoughts on the debut album “Here and Now”:
“In the music, I tried to convey the mood of furious forward motion. It’s a very energetic and daring composition with really strong melodic moves. The idea that I wanted to convey with the lyrics: Try to achieve everything yourself, don’t wait for someone to pull you out of the darkness. Have a goal, evolve and let unnecessary people go. Don’t let yourself be used.”
Throughout 2021, he released the title track “Here And Now” and single “Leap of Faith” as music videos leading up to the release of the debut full-length. This follow up single “Starlight” is a glimpse of what is to come, there are more songs in the works.
Bolshakov has high expectations for this new offering, which he thinks will be appreciated by a diverse group of listeners, especially the chorus and solo. He has been working on this for almost a year, composed entirely on his own, complemented with electronic and cinematic effects and wrapped up with heartfelt lyrics.
Technical, and progressive, Shinai is recommended listening for fans of Bleed From Within, Wage War and Polaris.
“Starlight” can be heard via its music video premiere on TheCirclePit – https://youtu.be/oFmvVRj5jnI
Digital (Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music) at https://smarturl.it/shinai.metal
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For more info:
https://www.facebook.com/shinai.metal
https://www.instagram.com/shinai.metal
About:
One-man band project “Shinai” was created in August 2021 by Evgeny Bolshakov from St. Petersburg, Russia. Evgeny was known for his Deathcore project “Bite The Goat” where he took part as a composer, guitarist and backing vocalist. At that time Evgeny had written 8 tracks for the album, which never saw the light in Bite the Goat’s creativity because of the collective breakup. That’s why he decided to create his own project and released an album consisting of these songs. That’s how the history of the Shinai project started.
The album was called “Here and Now”, the recording of which involved the not unknown OUTCAST vocalist Igor Kapranov, as well as a guest vocalist Asya Zelenaya. The album received a lot of positive feedback from heavy music fans and was the beginning of determining the musical direction of the project. Also 3 music videos were released for the album. At the moment new single “Starlight” is being prepared for release August 2022, which took more than half a year to prepare. This single is the end of the past and a push towards a new future. There will also be a music video to accompany the single.
Evgeniy Bolshakov – All Instruments and Vocals
Photo Credit – Vladislav Prokopyev (vlpro1)