Spend time talking to Mark Morton about his creative process and two themes emerge. One, he loves to write. The Lamb of God guitarist says, “I’m a musician, I’m a songwriter, I’m a guitar player, and I’m a lyricist.” Two, Morton is inspired by a wide swath of musical genres.

For his new project Anesthetic, Morton didn’t sit down this year and say I want to write a solo album. Instead, he’s actually been writing some of this debut for years. “This album wasn’t a concerted effort to start something outside Lamb of God,” he explains. “Music is always in my head, and until I write and record it, it’s stuck there. But once I record it, it’s out. It’s a catharsis, more for my own sanity.”

The winds of change most definitely fanned the flame for LIGHT THE TORCH. On their 2018 full-length debut »Revival« [Nuclear Blast], the Los Angeles, CA trio—Howard Jones [vocals], Francesco Artusato [guitar], and Ryan Wombacher [bass]—drew from five years together as DEVIL YOU KNOW only to forge a wholly distinct path. Amidst myriad struggles, they returned from the brink under a new banner.

“2016 was a really tough year for us as a band, both personally and professionally,” admits Howard. “While going through some lineup changes we were also battling some issues with the use of our band name. At the same time, I was trying to deal with the loss of my oldest brother which really hit me hard. During that time, we just bonded like never before. We all meshed because we faced war together. We survived. At the end, we realized we were a real band and decided to make an album representing that resilience. Honestly, we came out of the dark. The name literally signifies what we went through.”

The musicians quietly struck the match for LIGHT THE TORCH during 2017. Without so much as telling either the label or management, they wrote the 12 anthems comprising »Revival« and recorded them in Los Angeles with the help of WOVENWAR and AS I LAY DYING bassist and producer Josh Gilbert [BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, SUICIDE SILENCE] behind the board. Joined by EXTINCTION A.D. drummer Mike “Scuzz” Sciulara behind the kit, the guys put their heads down and really focused on making an album as a whole, placing more emphasis on the songs flowing cohesively from one to the next.