Liberty n' Justice was founded in 1991 by Justin Murr and Patrick Marchand. Just out of high school, they recorded their first album, 'Armed With The Cross', in 1992 on independent label Glory Rock Records. With the music of one and the voice of the other, they embarked on a six month tour to support it. 'Armed with the Cross' went on to sell 5500 units. Along the way, Liberty n' Justice added new band members Robert Sliger, Angie Beckett, James Beckett, Sarah Day, Bob Bacon, and Kim Todd. The band members thought they were building momentum and decided to go back into the studio in 1994. The album they recorded, 'Big Guns', was over budget, had no musical direction, and lackluster production. It only sold 900 units. Many national and local magazines and newspapers wrote LnJ off, so the band withered away. In 1996, Murr and Marchand went into the studio to work on 'Forever Till The End' and they recorded 28 tunes. By this time, every major label had passed on Liberty n' Justice, and the band was drawing very few people to its shows. Just as Murr was about to trash the project, a long-time recording buddy and co-writer of most of LnJ's songs said he would sing leads on the project. Gregg Clemons (former CBS recording artist) took the project to the next level. At this time LnJ was just a studio group, but the songs caught the attention of a publishing company in Nashville. At dinner they offered a very "bad deal" which Murr turned down. He gave up on music. In 2000, Marchand called Murr and the two got together. After talking, they decided to record a fourth album, 'Bargain Bin', for Innate Records. Marchand, Murr, along with Holly Jones and Murr's wife Sharon, went on the 2000 "Karaoke Live" tour. At the end of our tour, Murr started planning a tour for 2001, but things fell apart. Efforts were made in 2002 by Murr to record what he thought would be a solo album. But soon he found himself calling Jamie Rowe (Guardian/London Calling) and Dale Thompson (Bride) and asked them to sing on two different songs for the album. To his surprise, they agreed. From there, things snowballed and the album finally got direction. Murr formed a partnership with Bill Tate and Gary Manuel called 3 Chord Records. They decided to use the band name Liberty n' Justice for the new album, which is titled 'Welcome to the Revolution'. The album features 18 known singers, including Lou Gramm of Foreigner and Michael Sweet of Stryper. One month before 'Welcome To The Revolution' was released, Murr went back into the studio to start working on another CD. "For this new record, I expanded on the original idea. I thought how cool and what kind of ministry would it be to have 'known' rock singers singing Christian songs."
SOUNDTRACK OF A SOUL (2006) LNJ
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Line-up: Lead Vocals: See track list Guitars: Mike Layne, Troy Thompson, Jamie Rowe, Tommy Denander, Scott Heberer, Torontali, Dave Tsien, Sayit, Mike Maino, Stephen DeAcutis, Drive, Aurelien Barbolosi, Mark Slaughter Bass: Mike Layne, Justin Murr, Ez Gomér, Tim Gaines, Steve Curtsinger, Tim Bushong, Mark Arbour, Ed Avila, John "JD" DeServio, Micha Drums and Percussion: Mikkey Dee, Michael Loy, Tim Bushong, Roger Banks, John Hummel, Shawn Szoke, Michael Ulvsgärd, Shannon Woulfe, Bryan West, Dave Anthony, Gary Horrie Keyboards: Tommy Denander, Charlie Calv Backing Vocals: Mike Layne, Justin Murr, Steve Curtsinger, Michael Loy, Alex Thompson, Jamie Rowe, Ez Gomér, Ed Avila, Mary Jacobsen, Mike Maino, Stephen DeAcutis, Drive, Sebastian Bach, Mark Slaughter, Pete Loran
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I was made aware of this band because of the Christian Metal Realm board. Justin Murr pimped his 'Welcome To The Revolution' release there, and he caught my interest with all the famous names participating on that album. But for some reason I hesitated buying it, and when the reviews for the album turned out to be quite lukewarm, I didn't bother to further look into this band. But then Justin started talking about his new album, and the many artists he got to guest on it. And this time it was no way around it; I just had to buy 'Soundtrack Of A Soul'! And I'm glad I did. OK, so the biggest selling point of this album are all the celebrity singers who guest on it. But I honestly think that this album has such strong song material, it would be just as enjoyable with only 1 singer too (provided the singer in question would be a good one, of course). Justin did a great job with the writing part this time, and getting Mike Layne to produce was another great move. The music is high quality melodic hardrock/metal, not unlike the main bands of most of the participating artists hereon. The album opens with a sound clip from the movie "School Of Rock", and it is most fitting. Nearly every tune are bull's-eyes, and the album as a whole grows on you with each new listen. Justin has not tried to imitate any of the bands he has borrowed musicians from, and that proves to be a wise decision. Because it's really nice to hear Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row), Josh Kramer (Saint) and Drive (Mike Lee from Barren Cross) sound quite different from what you'd expect. The album is very dynamic, balancing between ballads and more heavy songs. Liberty N'Justice are not in the music business just for the fun of it. Justin has a message he wants to share with the listener. And I think it is great to get to hear so many excellent secular artists who have said yes to guest on this album. The result is outstanding!
Killer tracks: Kings Of Hollywood, Another Nail, Malice In Wonderland, Flinch, If The World Could Be Mine
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Line-up: Lead Vocals: See track list Guitars: Mike Layne, Tommy Denander, Jack Frost, Sayit, Alby Odum, Nikki Dimage, Dave Tsien, Mark Hovland, Shannon Hovland, Mike Biggs, Drrk McCoy, Ryan Marsh Bass: Mike Layne, Justin Murr, Jerry Dixon, Ez Gomér, Scot Strickland, Brian Bridenthal, Mark Hovland, Shannon Hovland, Dave Tsien, Eric Nelson Drums: Mike Layne, Michael Ulvsgärd, Terry Russell, Timmy Higgins, Mark Hovland, Shannon Hovland, Ron Sivulich Jr., Cory McKown Keyboards: Mike Layne, Tony Carey, Charlie Calv, Chuck Giacinto, Mark & Shannon Hovland, Robert Hartwig Background Vocals: Mike Layne, Justin Murr, Kevin Chalfant, Ex Gomér, Tony Carey, Dale Toth, Denny Rockey, Joe Galvan |
Liberty N' Justice are back, with the same winning concept. But this time they are back with a twist. The formula is the same; you take a bunch of profiled lead singers, and let them sing songs written by two very competent hard rock song writers. But this time, instead of performing pretty standard hard rock tunes, Murr and Layne have created a semi-acoustic effort! And you know what? It works perfectly! The list of singers reads as any hair metal fans wet dream come true. But I urge everyone to try to notice the songs first. Never mind that names such as John Corabi (ex-Mötley Crüe, Union, ex-Ratt), Jack Russell (Great White) and Tony Mills (TNT, ex-Shy), amongst many others, delivers some great singing, outside of their everyday fields here. It really is the catchy songs that make this album what it really is; namely a great hard rock album! Named after the Whiteheart tune they so eloquently cover on the CD, this album took me by surprise, even though I had pretty high expectations for it, and it keeps climbing on the top 20 of 2007 releases list. And even though this is a mostly acoustic instrumented album, that doesn't not mean that we get any sub par playing. Everything is handled great my the respective artists, and to round it all off, the production is top notch too. Also look out for another stellar cover art job by Rex Zachary.
Killer tracks: All of them!
4 ALL: THE BEST OF LNJ (2008) VERSAILLES
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Line-up: Lead Vocals: See track list Guitars: Mike Layne, Richard Kendrick, Steve Brown, Troy Thompson, Michael Sweet, Gary Manuel, Jon Gilbert, Keri Kelli, Scott Heberer, Tim Bushong, Sayit, Tommy Denander, Dave Tsien Bass: Justin Murr, Steve Brown, Troy Thompson, Rich Creadore, Mathew Martin, Tim Gaines, Ez Gomer, Eric Nelson Drums: Mike Laney, Steve Brown, Patrick Doody, Derek Sorrells, Gary Horrie, Shannon Woulfe, Michael Ulvsgärd, Cory McKown Keyboards - Troy Thompson, Jeff Oakley, Mike Laney, Charlie Calv Background Vocals: Mike Laney, Justin Murr, Steve Brown, Bill Tate, Gary Manuel, Michelle Lynn, Steve Davies |
Liberty N' Justice was given worldwide attention after their 2 last CD's. So in 2008 they decided to released a compilation album, for new and old fans to check out what they are all about. This 18 track overview delivers songs from the bands last 3 albums, and not surprisingly omits the first demo-like albums.
These last 3 recording all features the "guests" that created the buzz for this band. But the more I listen to Liberty N' Justice, the more it hits me: It's the songwriters who are the real stars here. You can have all the famous names in the world on your album, and it would still stink if the songs weren't good. But there is no doubt that Liberty N' Justice have always written great melodic hard rock and metal songs. So if you haven't checked out their other releases so far, maybe this is a great place to get to know them? And if you, like me, already own the bands back catalogue, you still want to by '4 All: The Best of LNJ' for the 4 brand new tracks. They are all great songs, and I especially loved "Rage", featuring Dug Pinnick of King's X on vocals. I've never been a fan of his band, but the track here is phenomenal. "We Have A God" is actually a Fear Not song, and Larry Worley was the lead singer for this band. In this cover version he is joined by Derrick LeFevre (Lillian Axe) and Richard Kendrick. The liner-notes gives you information about every singer featured on the CD.
LIGHT IT UP (2009) RETROACTIVE RECORDS
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Justin Murr, and his Liberty N' Justice, are back with another all-star recording. The line up of guests is as impressive this time around as it was on 3 last effort as well. So 'Light It Up' is sure to please the already converted, and hopefully open some new ears to this excellent constellation in the process.
Liberty N' Justice signed up with Retroactive Records for this release. In addition to changing the title from 'The Cigar Chronicles' to 'Light It Up' (??) and the song "Bastard" to "The Other Thief", they also asked to have the intended cover art changed (I added the original above, as I liked it better). Oh well, it is the music that counts. And, as usual, the music is awesome! This is melodic metal/hard rock at it's very best. Again, if you are familiar with any of the guests every-day bands, you know what you are getting on this CD. Justin is an unsung master in writing songs for the hard rock genre. He has once again hired a little help from Shawn Pelata (Line Of Fire etc). I really hope he gets the attention he deserves with this release. Just listen to what he does for the Thompson brothers, of Bride fame. Their track, "The Other Thief", could have been on many a Bride album. However, this song is so much better that anything Bride themselves have been doing for ages!
'Light It Up' consists mostly of up-tempo rockers, but you know you'll also get some slower number on a CD like this. And what is a melodic hard rock album without some beautiful ballads? "For Better Or Worse", featuring Shawn Pelata and Stephen Chesney of Waking Jonah, and "Do What You Believe", with Bill Leverty & CJ Snare from Firehouse, are both incredible songs. However, I keep changing favorite tracks every time I listen to the CD. So that means the album has longevity. All in all I find 'Light It Up' to be yet another perfect album from Liberty N' Justice. I cannot say enough good things about this band/project, so do yourself a favor, and check them out for yourself.
Oh, and why ain't Chris Jericho singing on the song "Wrestling With God"? :D
Killer tracks: All of them!
Liberty 'N' Justice also appear on:
V/A - 'Thorns Of Redemption: The Christian Metal Realm Compilation - Volume 1'
V/A - 'The Narrow Path: The CMR Compilation - Volume II'
INDEPENDENCE DAY