In order to understand where an album like Jesse is coming from, I feel it’s important to know a bit of back story. Gabe Wilkinson isn’t knew to the music making industry, in fact Jesse is his 4th album to be released. However, for me, this is his most passionate project. The album title is a dedication to Wilkinson’s brother who sadly passed away 2 years ago and from that sadness came this album. Each song on this album is a part of the over arching theme of loss, addiction, and pain; those hard feelings seep into each track on this album making each one powerful on its own. We also get to hear from Sean “Satyr” Tracy of PRODUKT, Inquisitor Uzumaki of dreDDup, Darren C. Huss of Psyche, and Violette Syn throughout Jesse.
The album opens with lines from Mars Attacks and immediately dives into an industrial pool of feelings and sounds. Microwaved is an industrial band to the core and this album is a great throwback to industrial music of yesteryear. The opening track, “Ascension”, immediately fills your ear canal’s with pulsing synth that leads to the eerie whisper of lead vocalist Gabriel Wilkinson. When I first listened to Jesse “Ascension” immediately dragged me into it and warmed me with it’s all encompassing sound, I knew I would love the rest of it right then.
Each song is it’s own monster begging to be unleashed, from “My Personal Judas” which captures a feeling of total regret to “Dirty Politics” with it’s erotic opening and energetic sound. But my favorite track, “Monster & The Girl”, is where the album really punches you in the gut. There is so much anger and love lumped in together that creates a haunting melody to compliment it’s raging vocals.
Microwaved has been lurking about in the underground scene for awhile but I hope that Jesse can open new doors and find a bigger audience. It’s an album that deserves to be heard and shared. The album is available for purchase at Microwaved’s website & iTunes for $10 or $1 a song. You can also check out this album and previous ones on Spotify. I encourage you to give this underrated, underground band a listen; especially in an age where the music industry is over-saturated with unoriginal and unfeeling crap. As Wilkinson said himself, “This album is my catharsis, two years worth of tears, anger, loss, and fear in 11 tracks.”