MusicRadar

Mark Morton, on stage with Lamb Of God, with his Jackson Signature Dominion guitar. © Igor Vidyashev/ZUMA Press/Corbis

"It's very flattering to hear what is being said about us," says Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton. "I don't know if I personally see this year as being different from any other year. Still, it's nice to know that people really like this album. It's connecting, and that's good, of course."

The album Morton refers to is Resolution, the Richmond, Virginia-based quintet's seventh offering, which has just stormed its way onto the charts. A dazzling, sophisticated blend of thrash aggression and classic metal precision, its 14 cuts unfold as a seamless, collective whole, and has already been compared to landmark works by the likes of Metallica, Iron Maiden and Pantera.

Every so often, a metal band claims the title of 'the biggest' or 'the best,' and this year Lamb Of God (who also include singer Randy Blythe, bassist John Campbell, along with brothers Chris and Willie Adler on drums and guitar, respectively) are being hailed genre groundbreakers.

"What might be coming through on this album is the fact that we're more comfortable in our own skin," says Morton, responding to industry and internet chatter. "Over the course of our discography, we've learned a lot and tried some things. On the whole, I'd say that we feel secure in our identity. We're confident about our abilities, so that's where everything might be coming from."

MusicRadar sat down with Mark Morton to discuss the making of Resolution, his approach to guitar playing and recording, along with his thoughts on how the internet affects the way music is marketed.

Does ego ever come into play with Lamb Of God? Being called 'the biggest' and 'the best' is part of a musical tradition. And not just in metal - The Rolling Stones bill themselves as 'the greatest rock 'n' band in the world.'

"Yeah. I don't know how that fits in with us. We don't walk around saying, 'We're the best.' We strive to get better, sure, and we definitely try to make the best albums we can and put on the best shows we can. I'm not sure if it's ego-driven, though. I think it's more about wanting to enjoy what we do and challenge ourselves creatively and technically.

"There some other metal bands that are bigger than us. Metallica, certainly, is the biggest in the world; Slipknot's a very big band, too. Do I feel that I'm in direct competition with them? Not really – because they do things musically that are very different from Lamb Of God. We respect them, we've worked with them, and that's where it sits."

Aside from making a great record, did you have a specific goal in mind when cutting Resolution?

"I think, more than ever before, we had a free-form approach. The past few records have been a little... reactionary. Ashes Of The Wake was kind of rushed because we had just gotten our major label deal – the label invested in us and wanted their own record out fast, so we put that out quickly.

"Sacrament was a reaction to that. We took our time and had our first heavily produced record. Next we reacted to that record and stripped away all of that production and layering – we made a very live-sounding record with Wrath. That stream of records was us responding to what we had just done.

"That wasn't the case with Resolution. We resolved all of that – the title kind of plays on that. This time, we were very free and open. There were no anxieties about what we should or shouldn't try. If it sounded right and felt right, that's what we did."

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