'It's A Positive Thing For Me': Mark Morton On Working With Chester Bennington

During recent interviews, guitarist Mark Morton has remarked that Anesthetic, his first solo record, is everything he hoped it would be – and more. When asked to elaborate, Morton says he feels that it's stylistically diverse, “and something pretty refreshing for me as a songwriter and a player”. “[It's] something a little bit outside of the box in terms of what I'm normally known for, which is metal and Lamb of God. I feel like this is not specifically a metal record, which was sort of the point.”

He's on the money – Anesthetic draws from the likes of blues and rock as well as Lamb of God's pulverising groove-thrash metal. Morton worked on the LP for two years. Collaborating with producer Josh Wilbur, they utilised Slash's first solo album and Dave Grohl's Probot project as reference points and enlisted numerous vocalists. Singers include Lamb of God growler Randy Blythe, Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach), Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Mark Lanegan, Chuck Billy (Testament) and Josh Todd (Buckcherry). Morton performs all guitar parts, with Roy Mayorga, David Ellefson, Ray Luzier, Mike Inez and Jean-Paul Gaster among the additional musical personnel.

“I think that one surprise to me, and maybe to everyone else as well, was Randy and Alissa's voices on The Truth Is Dead and how great they really complement each other,” Morton enthuses. “I knew they were both great singers, but the synergy between their voices and the way their voices melded together on that track I thought was special.”

The most headline-grabbing of the album's musical unions though features late Linkin Park front-man Chester Bennington, in an appearance that's spawned some pundits pondering what could have been had the singer embraced heavier material. “Cross Off is obviously a really special song,” the axeman remarks. “If you listen to the early Linkin Park stuff, like Hybrid Theory, you can hear he's screaming his head off, and well. That was one of the things Chester was so excited about once we got in the studio, is that he was just thrilled to be able to kind of unleash that part of his voice again. Linkin Park has a long, illustrious career and a great body of work, but the more recent stuff wasn't nearly as heavy as what they started out with. So Chester was pretty excited and energised to be able to tap back into that.”

"That was one of the things Chester was so excited about once we got in the studio, is that he was just thrilled to be able to kind of unleash that part of his voice again."

Is it difficult for Morton to listen to that track now? “When I hear it, it's a very positive experience for me. We co-wrote that song lyrically, and the subject matter we're talking about is kind of dark at points. But the process of us working on that creatively, and being in the studio together and recording that was really positive. I have really fond memories of that time, so it's a positive thing for me.”

The solo release was a welcome creative outlet, and Morton's scheduled to undertake a brief North American tour in support of it, with a live band that includes Mark Morales (Sons Of Texas) on vocals and Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves) on guitar. He isn't ruling out doing another solo project if the timing is right. “A lot of these ideas have been around or I've been working on a while, so I feel it's kind of cathartic to record and produce this album and have it come out.

“I'd say the board has been wiped off there, and I'm turning my creative attention back to Lamb of God, which is definitely my priority. We are writing, and there's quite a bit of new material, quite a few song ideas bouncing around. We're pretty diligently working on new stuff right now, so it feels really good.”

One of modern metal's genuine heavyweights, Lamb Of God has been included on selected legs of thrash legends Slayer's farewell world jaunt. “Slayer's definitely a legendary band,” Morton says. “They've been around a long time, so you can see where they might want to slow down a little bit. But I just feel really fortunate to have been able to work with them as much as we have, and learn from them like we have.”

As for whether he envisions a day whereby Lamb Of God will be that outgoing veteran band giving the next generation a leg-up, the guitarist seems nonplussed. “I don't know, man. I don't really think about it in those terms. I feel like we've been really fortunate to have the career we've had. We've got a career of our own that feels really fortunate, and I feel like we've still got more to do. Definitely, when you hear the new stuff we're working on, you'll agree that we still have some things left to say and some noise left to make.”