Pure American Metal

Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band out of Richmond, Virginia. The band formed in 1994 under the name Burn the Priest. This year the band celebrated the 20th anniversary of their 1998 first release, which bears the same name as their former moniker. Guitarist Mark Morton bears a majority of the responsibility of song writing, while the other four members will collaborate and improve upon the work and ideas Morton presents in order to make cohesive pieces. Morton, in an interview with songwritersprocess.com, makes it very clear that he likes to clear his head in while writing. He does this as a way of avoiding fixation upon the mundane, uninteresting, day to day things that don’t make for good music and really thinking about the important things that actually make for meaningful music. Morton talks of how his songwriting process has evolved over the years, comparing his early writing to writing a thesis for an essay. Looking back on the songs he wrote this way, he describes them as “hokey” and “(not) very pure”. He sees the newer, clear head method as producing superior music. He refers to it as a “eureka” type situation, in which inspiration just strikes, invoking a certain sense of insight. While trying to make his music meaningful, Morton, much like a poet, doesn’t make the meaning explicit, and he leaves it to the reader to decide what the true meaning behind the music is. 

 
Considering Morton is first and foremost a guitarist, he says he never writes music around his lyrics. Rather, he painstakingly tailors his lyrics to fit with his music. He says “ I will very often write music looking for some kind of physical response to the pattern and to the cadence of the guitar. I look for the rhythm. Lyrics come at any given moment. . . On a mechanical level, I have to literally edit the syllables so that it locks into the music better. In that sense, it evolves from a point of being purely creative and imaginative, almost like a prose freeform thing, into a technical process where I have to ensure that the words lock-in just right and that they are not too wordy. What words can I lose for example, without losing the meaning? What words can I add to make it flow more naturally? That’s where I become a technician.” Furthermore, in writing these lyrics, he considers the vocalist, Randy Blythe, to be an instrument rather than just words on a page. He looks at the overall composition of the piece, adding and deleting bits and pieces, be it vocals, melody, or rhythm to make for a cohesive work. 

As far as motivation goes, Morton isn’t too concerned with the glamour and fame that comes with touring. Of course, he enjoys being on stage for the fans, but for Morton its all about the music. He tells songwritersonprocess.com “Don’t get me wrong: I do enjoy watching people enjoy our music and I enjoy the energy of the live show, but I didn’t start playing guitar or writing music as a means to the end of getting on stage in front of thousands of people. I started writing songs because that was the end game. I’ve always been so enamored by that process.”

http://www.songwritersonprocess.com/blog/2014/09/04/mark-morton-lamb-of-god
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