Liberty N’ Justice (LNJ) originally started out in 1991 as a hard rock band with Justin Murr and Patrick Marchand. It was revived in 2002 by Justin Murr as a solo project using multiple musicians to join him in creating ‘Welcome to the Revolution’ (2004), ‘Soundtrack of a Soul’ (2006) and ‘Independence Day’ (2007). Justin has been successful in getting many talented artists to contribute.
This particular project started life as a five track ‘Chasing A Cure’ EP before being picked up by Roxx Records and expanded to a thirteen track ‘Chasing A Cure (with Vic Rivera)’ LP. The main driving force is to create awareness of epilepsy and raise money for research to find a cure. This disease hits very close to home for Justin Murr as his daughter, Trinity Paige Murr, was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of seven. For many years she has battled through daily medication, hospital stays, cluster seizures, induced comas, three weeks in the ICU – and finally even endured brain surgery.
There is such an amazing amount of talent involved that I could spend the whole review dropping names. Instead you may want to refer to the tracklisting for the full details. As you might expect, some of the lyrics openly addresses issues surrounding the project, with ‘Throwing Stones’ tackling the stresses and strains placed upon a family whilst dealing with challenging situations. The tenderness in ‘Paige’s Song’ belies the angst of wanting to protect your child from harm, but having little else but faith in God to help you pull through.
The first half of the album has a polished, commercial feel compared to the more gritty and down-to-earth, hard-driven rock and scorching guitar in ‘Snake Eat Snake’ and ‘Butterface’. And just so it doesn’t get too serious, they have tongues firmly stuck in cheek for the hair metal of ‘When Mullets Ruled The World’. Also ‘Ground Zero’ is an epic piece of progressive rock.
All of the artists donated their talent and time, whilst the cover artwork was created and contributed by Rex Zachary and the CD layout and design by Scott Waters. This stays firmly within the commercial rock territory and keeps to the high standards that you would expect in this area. So if you are a fan of Journey, Foreigner, Bon Jovi and Night Ranger, then this is for you.
Rating: 7/10
Reviewed by Peter John Willoughby
Tracks:
1. Say Uncle (Paul Shortino of Quiet Riot / Rough Cut, Ron Keel of Keel & Eddie Ojeda of Twisted Sister)
2. Throwing Stones (Donnie Vie of Enuff Z Nuff & JK Northrup)
3. Paige’s Song (Philip Bardowell of MAGDALEN/Unruly Child/The Beach Boys and Tony Palacios of Guardian)
4. Playing God (Terry Ilous of XYZ, Jeff Paris and Richard Kendrick of Near Life Experience)
5. Chasing A Cure (Benny Mardones, John Pine and Bill Leverty of Firehouse)
6. Black Or White (Terry Ilous of XYZ, Alton Hood of D.O.C. & JK Northrup) Originally Recorded by Michael Jackson
7. Quicksand Jesus (Kelly Keeling of Baton Rouge) Originally Recorded by Skid Row
8. Snake Eat Snake ‘Electric Version’ (David Raymond Reeves & Don Webster of Neon Cross)
9. Butterface (Mark Allen Lanoue of Biloxi & Joshua Perahia of Joshua)
10. When Mullets Ruled The World (Philip Bardowell of MAGDALEN/Unruly Child/The Beach Boys)
11. Ground Zero (Kelly Keeling of Baton Rouge and Kerry Livgreen of Kansas/Protokaw & Carmine Appice)
12. “Eve” (demo with Tommy Denander)
13. “Damascus Road” (demo with Tommy Denander)
LNJ discography:
Welcome to the Revolution (2004)
Soundtrack of a Soul (2006)
Independence Day (2007)
4-All: The Best Of LNJ (2008)
Light It Up (2010)
Chasing A Cure LP (2011)
Hell Is Coming To Breakfast (2012)
Before The Revolution: best of lnj the early years (2012)
The Cigar Chronicles (2013)
4-All: The Best Of LNJ 2 (2013)
Record Label: Roxx Records, May 2011
Weblinks: Facebook / Reverbnation / Twitter
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission
USA: Metal Helm
Video below “When Mullets Ruled The World”