Those unfamiliar with who Mark Morton is, just think of the band Lamb of God, and yes he’s a guitarist for them, but has begun an impressive solo career, it’s not unusual for band members to take time and create their own solo albums countless have done this, in 2019 he released Anesthetic, and in January 2020 came a 5-song EP acoustic album on Rise Records.
The album starts with “All I Had To Lose” that features Mark Morales from Sons of Texas, it is one of two tracks he appears on the other is the close out song “Black” originally by Pearl Jam; however the opening song allows Morales to provide an emotional impact to the song and establishing an early tone that captivates the listeners throughout the album. Next up is “The Fight” with John Carbone from Moon Tooth, each of the first songs allow for powerful sounding tracks, that allowing the listener to experience something vastly different. Often a solo effort is just an artist ability to showcase their songs yet staying in the vein of the main band’s genre, hence attracting similar fans, that’s definitely not the case here, Mark has taken the impressive route of expressing his love of music in a different genre, thereby creating a new emotional outreach for the songs to fans. The first cover track is “She Talks To Angels” from The Black Crowes fame, with Lzzy Hale who provides almost a vulnerable heartache guest vocals. As previously mentioned, the second cover song is ‘Black’ which is a fine close out track to this EP collection and grants a beautiful chosen track to heighten the musical experience. Ether album allows for full meaningful vocals, restrained riffs, never to overpower the lyrics or the emotional response.
Track List:
All I Had to Lose (feat. Mark Morales)
The Fight (feat. John Carbone)
She Talks to Angels (feat. Lzzy Hale (Black Crowes cover)
Love My Enemy (feat. Howard Jones)
Black (feat. Mark Morales) (Pearl Jam cover)
Artist Links:
https://www.markmortonmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/markmortonmusic
https://twitter.com/MarkDuaneMorton
https://www.instagram.com/mark.duane.morton/
Label Links:
https://riserecords.lnk.to/ether
https://twitter.com/riserecords
https://www.instagram.com/riserecords/
Baron’s Rating: 4.0/5.0