Lamb Of God

There are a handful of bands that metal fans of all stripes are familiar with. Having influenced so many acts within the genre since their formation in 1990, Lamb Of God is certainly one of those bands.

In the past they’ve labelled themselves “pure American metal”, and have released six albums to prove it – the most recent being 2012’s Resolution.

This year Lamb Of God’s touring ventures were hindered when vocalist Randy Blythe was charged for the manslaughter of Daniel Nosek, a 19 year-old who passed away at one of the band’s 2010 shows in Prague.

After facing trial for the case, which argued that Nosek died after being pushed off stage by Blythe, the singer was found not guilty and set free to continue his musical career.

The whole band were affected by the incident, including guitarist Mark Duane Morton – who is now stoked to have Lamb of God back together and on the road.

“We’ve been back playing shows for a while. I think the first shows we played once he [Blythe] got out of Prague were the Slipknot festivals [Knotfest – the debut year for the festival],” says Morton. “It certainly felt good to be back to playing our music and doing what we do best.”

With Lamb Of God back in action, the band have scheduled a co-headline tour Down Under this September with progressive metallers Meshuggah. Morton displays a clear enthusiasm for the team-up. “It is very exciting to be finally doing a tour with Meshuggah, it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

“It is very exciting to be finally doing a tour with Meshuggah, it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

The Virginians have tried to tour with the Swedes before, but it has never quite worked out logistically. “I think it is absolutely fantastic that it’s happening in Australia because we’ve been pretty vocal about the fact that it’s one of our favourite places to tour.”

Lamb Of God are no strangers to Australian shores after numerous headline tours. They’ve played the Soundwave festival a handful of times, and even supported Metallica on their World Magnetic tour back in 2010.

“It’s certainly one of the biggest markets for the band,” relates Morton, “and for whatever reason, the Australian metal fans really seem to relate and respond to us so to be able to come down there and play shows for them with is awesome for us.”

As much as he appreciates festival shows, the guitarist prefers the exclusive tours for fans. “It’s cool to get into the clubs and the halls doing headline shows so we can stretch out a little more and bring more of our show.”

While Morton appreciates the lengthy set-lists as well as the diehard fans in Australia, he’s not so keen on the journey to our country. “I can’t say I’m that excited about getting down there,” he sniggers. “The travel to Australia can be pretty torturous, but once we’re there we have a great time.”

Lamb Of God are still on the touring cycle for the Resolution album, which they first toured in Australia during Soundwave 2012. “We certainly intend to release another album but we don’t really have anything scheduled yet,” Morton reveals.

Like many bands on the road, they are always prepared with all the materials on tour to do some writing. “I have a really simple set-up that I carry along with me on tour that I use to just document riff ideas; and I write a lot of lyrics for the band as well so I’ve got little scraps of paper lying around everywhere.”

“For whatever reason, the Australian metal fans really seem to relate and respond to us so to be able to come down there and play shows for them with is awesome for us.”

The 40-year-old will continue writing on the road for the rest of the year. “We haven’t really talked about writing collectively [for a new album] as a band yet, I’d say we’ll be touring through into 2014.”

He admits that he’s looking forward to a break from touring around February next year before commencing the next album cycle.

As renowned as Lamb Of God are for staying on the road, Morton prefers the production and recording side of being in the band. He values the notion of experimentation in the studio and open-mindedness to different ideas.

“I’m the studio rat,” he says. “I like writing songs and putting riffs together so I always look forward to that part of what we do.”

Morton recognises the diversity in the band in terms of preferences of being in the studio, which is obviously a big part of a being a musician. “Some people hate it, Randy can’t stand it, he loves being on stage and I think different people gravitate towards different things which is a good thing.”

Despite his studio preference, Morton admits that he still enjoys touring and performing shows. Especially alongside fellow Lamb Of God riff-lord Willie Adler. After playing for many years together, the two guitarists combine strengths to create the groove metal sound in the band.

“I think more than anything our styles complement each other, we play so very differently,” proposes Morton.

“We have a huge respect for each other as players but there’s also a little bit of healthy competition too I think” – (almost like a real life version of Guitar Hero) – “and that’s a good thing because by the end of the show-off, it’s just ridiculous how we’re trying to show the other person up. It makes for some pretty kick-ass guitar tracks on the records.”

Lamb Of God fans can look forward to more healthy competition between guitarists as the metallers take on the next chapter of their careers. Before that begins though, catch a glimpse of well-toured band when they play their September shows with Meshuggah.