Review of Mark Morton featuring Chester Bennington “Cross Off” (Single)
Second time's the charm, right?
Anselm Anderson, our guest music reviewer, is back with another banging selection. We love that his specialty is rock and that's constantly listening critically to today's best of the hardest rock world-wide and producing insightful reviews.
“Cross Off”
Mark Morton featuring Chester Bennington
(Single Review)
Guitarist Mark Morton—better known as the heavyweight fret machine behind Metal outfit Lamb Of God—recently announced his debut solo album Anasthetic. “Cross off “ is the second release from the album and it features the late Chester Bennington, who sadly passed away at the tender age of 41 (three months after recording in July 2017).
The Linkin Park frontman contributes to the writing credits, alongside Morton, Jake Oni and producer Josh Wilbur. It also features Paolo Gregoletto and Alex Bent (of Trivium) on bass and drums. Bennington gives another impassioned vocal performance as the tormented narrator of these harrowing lyrics that I feel are about suffering through dark times.
Bennington is back on-form with each verse sung through sorrow and anger. Morton’s guitar lines add to the tension; with every note searing along to every word screamed. The guitarist begins proceedings with one of his trademark intense intros that sets the stage for Bennington to sing. The addition of Gregolettto’s pounding drum fills and Bent’s subtle bass feels like this was written for the singer to open up to the world in this eerie rendition of what Bennington may have sounded like in a heavy metal outfit instead. Bennington adds a ferocious rap verse in the middle third to remind fans of the early Meteora days of Linkin Park, complete with a thunderous guitar solo from Morton himself. This is testament to Morton’s writing ability to allow a tortured soul like Bennington to really express himself here.
Who's our GUEST Music Reviewer?
My name is Anselm Anderson and I am a freelance publisher from the North-West of England, United Kingdom.
My passions are writing and playing music with ambitions on becoming Music journalist. I currently host my own blog entitled Rockstarblogs that reviews the best in unsigned music. My other experiences are writing for several other musical publications including The Old School Project, Neon Music and RockChicMe. I enjoy playing guitar and studying music. I also host a weekly rock show online called Rockstarclassics that looks at the stories behind the most legendary bands around.
My favourite genre is all things rock, metal and soul, so expect an insight into some of the best in new metal and rock tracks.
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