About the Contributors I: Jesse
Hi, my name is Jesse and I write for Metal Scribes. I actually started the publication by myself. I created all the art myself. I wanted to start this publication because the other metal publications didn’t really seem too active. At least not the ones that are written in English. I started writing on Medium because I got an album on Bandcamp that I really liked, and I still have to do a review of called The Red Wanderer by Isgalder, and I thought the reviews I was reading were missing the point.
I started writing every day and found that I really enjoyed it. I had also discovered Bandcamp and a plethora of black metal from bands I had never heard of. I got really excited about writing about them all and possibly gaining some extra income on the side.
Let’s give you a little background on my musical tastes and their origins. I started, when I was very young around 6, listening to Warrant. Cherry Pie was the first metal song that I heard. I didn’t really get into Metal until the late 90s when I was in my early teens, which I’m sure is most people’s starting point. I got into Limp Bizkit and Korn. The song that got me listening to metal constantly was “Nookie” by Limp Bizkit. I know I should be ashamed of this but I really don’t care. From there I listened to bands like Orgy. I was pretty much a Nu Metalhead. I went through a punk rock phase and then mistaking Grindcore for punk rock, I discovered Napalm Death.
This got me on the long road of hardcore bands. I still listened to punk and more popular stuff like Slipknot. I absolutely fell in love with their Iowa album. I didn’t just listen to metal though. I was a huge Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana fan as well. I found black metal on audio galaxy which was an app/website that you could download free music from in the early 00s. My argument for free music is that when it came to bands I loved and discovered by pirating I was more than happy to actually go out and buy their albums. I’m still a sucker for physical media to this day or at least purchasing something that I like. I know these days there’s Spotify and such, and I fully intend to use those services to evaluate various albums.
Anyway, back to my heavy metal timeline. I discovered Cradle of Filth on Audiogalaxy and I downloaded everything I could. I would later go on to buy all of their albums on CD. Like I said if the music is appealing enough some fans will still buy the album. I thought Cradle of Filth was true black metal and would listen to them and Dimmu Borgir. Both bands were amazing and very appealing to me. I would later discover Opeth through a mix CD a friend burned for me. The first song I heard by them was Bleak I would later buy several of their albums while I was in college.
I, of course, developed a healthy taste for the big 4 Metallica, Megadeath, Slayer, and Anthrax. From there I really dove into the past and started listening to bands like Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. I didn’t really discover Dio though until much later in my life. I also liked Motorhead. I was and still am a huge Metallica fan.
What really drove me to like the music was the fact that I had started learning guitar and the sounds coming from these bands were unique and wrapped in music theory and odd time signatures and the like. I really haven’t had any friends that were as fanatical about these bands as I was. I still don’t really. I live in Texas and while I like country music it really isn’t my go-to.
When I found Opeth I started looking into behind the scenes material, and I found out about Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree. Oh my was Porcupine Tree one of my favorite bands. At this point, I started listening to Dream Theater and Meshuggah. I became obsessed with weird time signatures.
For the past decade though, I had been in a relationship with someone that really didn’t care for metal so it kind of took a back seat and I listened to more classic rock than anything else. I developed a taste for Rush. I’ve said it before in one of these blogs at some point you stop looking for the most “brutal” music and actually start to appreciate other sounds as you mature. This is what’s happened to me. I still listen to hardcore but I definitely like classic rock.
I recently got into looking up the origins of black metal and have been getting into those bands. I really love Burzum's past and present even though I don’t entirely agree with the shit that Varg says. Atmospheric black metal I find to be quite relaxing. I put it on as white noise when I go to sleep now. I have the volume turned down though. I feel like it’s nice background noise and it helps me sleep. I look forward to analyzing all of this wonderful music we know as metal. I’m really new to this so please bear with me while I learn the ropes.
