Anesthetic (album)


Anesthetic is the first solo album by American guitarist Mark Morton, released on March 1, 2019, via Spinefarm.

Background

The album features guest performances by Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach, Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge, Chuck Billy of Testament, Mark Lanegan, Josh Todd of Buckcherry, Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy, the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, Jake Oni of Oni and Randy Blythe of Lamb of God. According to Morton, he had been writing new material for his solo record for "quite some time".

Sound and composition

Mark Morton outlined the difference between his solo album and his work with Lamb of God:

Release

The first single, "The Truth Is Dead", was released on December 13, 2018, premiering on Sirius XM Liquid Metal. The song features Morton's Lamb of God bandmate Randy Blythe and Arch Enemy frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz on vocals.
The second single off the record, "Cross Off", which features Chester Bennington, debuted at number 18 on the US Billboard Hard Rock Digital Song Sales with 2,000 downloads and 209,000 streams in its first week. A music video for "Cross Off" was released on March 5, directed by Roboshobo. The music video for "Cross Off" features an empty microphone as a tribute to Bennington, who died in 2017.

Reception

Wall of Sound gave the album a 7/10 and stated: "On the one hand he has nabbed some great artists to assist him get this album a release, however I think he has missed the mark on half the tracks by playing along with the Lamb of God playbook too often."

Personnel

Additional vocalists
Additional instrumentalists
Production