WRITER’S NOTE:
I try and review a record or a gig every day—sometimes more. But with the sheer amount of albums that come my way, a few inevitably slip through the net. That doesn’t mean they’re not incredible. This one certainly is. In fact, it’s probably the record I’ve listened to most this year, and it’s the reason we started the “Ones We Missed” series in the first place.
There’s a moment on “Brother” (like all of these tracks, it features a guest singer) where Cody Jinks has just delivered the chorus and the solo cuts loose. That, surely, is what Without The Pain is all about.
Let’s be honest: Mark Morton isn’t playing with Lamb Of God here. The only “redneck” element, if you like, is in the country licks, and albums like this only work if the vocalist fits the song.
“Hell And Back” illustrates this perfectly. It is, quite simply, sensational—and it’s sensational because Morton and Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three know exactly what they’re doing.
MV favourites Blacktop Mojo bring their trademark arena-sized licks to their offering, “Without The Pain,” but the real skill here is that the album goes wherever it wants. Travis Denning’s “Kite String” could easily be a Jason Isbell song—it’s that good. The acoustic singer-songwriter vibe is just wonderful.
And speaking of the genius that is Isbell, he’s here too—alongside Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke—for the incredible “Come December.”
If most of the guests are familiar (some are among my absolute favourites), then Nikki Lane was a new discovery for me. Her filthy-sounding honky-tonk rocker “Down No More” crackles with energy.
Jinks pops up a few times. The groover “Dust”—which also features Grace Bowers—absolutely shines, while Black Stone Cherry and Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown (now on hiatus while Bryant goes solo) inject some customary rawness into “Forever In The Light.”
Speaking of rawness…
One of the album’s highlights is Troy Sanders and Jared James Nichols combining on the soaring “Nocturnal Sun.” No stranger to covers, Clutch frontman Neil Fallon tears through “Needle And The Spoon,” and you can practically hear the grins through the speakers.
The closer, “Home,” is as gentle as it is gorgeous, with Denning returning to wrap things up. The sense of contentment it leaves you with feels like the very reason Morton made Without The Pain in the first place.
A music lifer, satisfying his creative need. And yes, these kinds of albums can sometimes feel like compilations—but if that’s the case, then this is the best compilation album ever made.
