Mark Duane Morton

Mark Duane Morton (born November 25, 1972) is the lead guitarist of the American groove metal band Lamb of God. His performing gear consists mostly of various Jackson guitars, including a Rhoads style and Swee-Tone archtop (both seen in the Killadelphia DVD) and, most often, his own signature model, the Jackson Dominion strung with GHS Boomer Strings 10-46 tuned to drop-D, loaded with a Seymour Duncan '59 in the bridge and a Duncan Jazz in the neck. He has recently developed a signature "Dominion" pickup with Dimarzio, which he is now using in his signature guitars. Onstage, Mark uses two Dual Mesa Boogie Mark V heads amplifiers with Mesa 4X12 cabinets His rack gear includes a Sennheiser wireless system, a DBX 266XL compressor / noise gate, and a splitter box. Mark only uses a few pedals on stage, Original Cry Baby Wah Pedal, MxR Eddie Van Halen Phaser which "makes his solos sear", MxR Overdrive pedal, and a Boss tuning pedal. Recently, it has been rumored that a signature Crybaby might be in production. Morton is known for writing some of Lamb of God's less conventional songs. These include, "Descending", "Vigil", and "Remorse Is for the Dead". In the DVD documenting the making of Sacrament, he made the point that he likes to "toss in the wildcard, the oddball, 'cause for every three you toss in, one of 'em winds up being real special because it's that different." Morton has also written some of the band's more traditional metal songs, such as, "Now You've Got Something to Die For", "Redneck" and "Walk With Me in Hell". In September 2011, Morton revealed plans of collaborating with DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara on a new project. According to Morton, Chicago doom legends Trouble are a big influence on the material. He says 14 "killer tunes" have been written so far, with Morton stating he is "not sure when it'll come to light." In March 2012, Mark Morton collaborated with Dez Fafara on a new project called 'Born of the Storm'. Two songs were released, 'Nowhere Fast' and 'Dust'. Dez's vocals are different from his trademark DevilDriver vocals on these songs and Mark's guitar sound is more original and incorporates bluesy rock riffs, a style that Mark is making into his own. On Thursday, 19th of July, Morton released his own song titled 'To Make Sure2'. He announced the release of his song through his Facebook page. He wrote: "Here's a tune I worked on with some friends the other night. It's something different. I hope you enjoy."