Album Review: Liberty N’ Justice – Light It Up
Liberty N' Justice - Light It Up
Liberty N’ Justice – Light It Up
Genre: Christian Hard Rock/Modern Melodic Rock
Review by: Jere
Naturally it’s difficult for an artist to bring forth an assortment of surprises into a cutthroat music industry. It’s even harder to formulate a well executed plan of attack for the release of a brand new studio album. Once the choice for Liberty N’ Justice founder Justin Murr was made to incorporate some of the biggest names in the history of stadium rock into such a bold project is when things really started to become interesting and the rock world in general would be intrigued as to what surprises Murr would come up with to keep the ball rolling. Over the course of the last three or four Liberty N’ Justice albums there has been a virtual who’s who of renowned musicians bringing their expertise to the table and through efforts like Welcome To The Revolution, Soundtrack To A Soul, and Independence Day this unique endeavor has been hailed as truly inspirational with musicianship that perfectly blends the classic rock vein with a whole slue of contemporary production values captivating fans from multiple eras of hard rock. There are definitely no secrets hid when it comes to the material coming out under the Liberty N’ Justice name as all the musicians involved have tackled such a enduring venture with no fear yet once Justin started dropping hints as to where the next Liberty N’ Justice effort would be heading many had to wonder if Murr would be able to stack the deck and then keep it from toppling over. Some new tricks would obviously need to be incorporated for such a task and seeing how Justin had already established himself getting some of the familiar faces back together wouldn’t be a problem. The real challenges would lie with whether or not the songwriting could evolve a little further without straying too far from the signature intensity found on past Liberty N’ Justice releases.
Right off the bat Light It Up is a completely different monster compared to LNJ’s last plugged in effort, Soundtrack Of A Soul, as Justin puts his faith into the hands of the artists who are helping take this all-star project to supersonic levels. A prime example would be the song Wrestling With God which features guest appearances from Guns N’ Roses Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal and Trixter members Pete Loran and Steve Brown. Brown stepped up and not only produced said track he also helped Justin snag a couple other huge talents (WWE superstar Chris Jericho of Fozzy and Def Leppard’s Phil Collen) for another track entitled Best Time We Never Had. If that isn’t enough Light It Up is produced by Vic Rivera (AdrianGale/Crunch), Mike Layne, CJ Snare of FireHouse fame (Snare also pre-mastered the album) and Stephen Chesney (Waking Jonah). It can be a little risky to have the musicians who are performing on the album also helping in the technical aspect of production but considering that the melodic rock scene has been forced to become an underground sensation a lot of these guys have further established themselves in that particular field. When listening to the finished product it’s fairly obvious that everyone involved brought everything they had to the recording sessions. Light It Up is an album consumed by a very spontaneous flow and this is largely attributed to Murr himself in choosing musicians who bring diverse amounts of variety to each and every song. As it stands right now Light It Up unquestionably prevails as Liberty N’ Justice’s deepest form of inspirational material to date but in many regards it doesn’t feel like an everyday Christian rock album. The way I look at it, it’s constructed in the same manner that Stryper did Murder By Pride all the while embracing a massive amount of modern harmonies similar to what is on Skillet’s latest opus Awake. Crossing boundaries has to be the most strenuous challenge for any musician wanting to keep his or her ties to their faith/beliefs and if they can tap into a commercial sound at the same time attracting a wider audience than more power to them. As for Justin Murr he has overcome a lot with these all-star LNJ efforts and just when many would have thought he had accomplished everything he shows the rock world yet again that bridging the gap between having inspiration in life (through all the highs and lows) and having even more well known/respected rock stars helping out is something that a man like Justin could pull off. As the evolution of Liberty N’ Justice has matured these last four to five years it is truly amazing to look back on a project that took quite a lot of hard work to get off the ground. Light It Up begins a whole new chapter for Liberty N’ Justice and if there is anything else that comes out of this album it’s that Murr has raised the bar once again. Even though it’s great to see and hear some of the old names that’ve helped make LNJ a lucrative name it is the inclusion of other hard rock giants that should open a bunch of new doors for Justin. I predict there will be many exciting times ahead for Liberty N’ Justice and whenever the next all-star release begins to take form Justin Murr will bring even more surprises into the fold. It’s like the old saying goes – ‘The lord works in mystery ways’ it almost makes one ponder what mysteries will Liberty N’ Justice try to solve next? For now that question will remained unanswered but rest assured when the time comes Justin will be able to find some more pretty powerful rock artists to take along for the ride!
The Good
Liberty N’ Justice expands their all-star talent roster into a line-up that can be considered the best collection of hard rockers assembled to date. The fact that Justin Murr was able to make a few new connections thanks in part to Trixter’s Steve Brown shows that what was once considered a real interesting endeavor has transformed into one of the hottest projects not only in Christian rock but also the modern melodic rock movement. There are so many names involved on Light It Up that trying to name each and every person, individually, would just end up wasting valuable paragraph space. It’s not everyday when you’ll see a supporting cast the likes of this and quite honestly I can’t think of any other project which is this exciting to listen to. One would think that as time goes by and new Liberty N’ Justice material get released that It would become somewhat dull or repetitive but somehow Justin Murr is able to work his magic and the next thing you know another huge talent starts collaborating with him. So like it or not Liberty N’ Justice is continuing to make huge waves throughout the industry by keeping everyone guessing as to who will be the next established star to join such a prestigious family.
The Bad
I don’t really think I could pick an album of this quality apart since it is extremely well crafted in nearly every field from production to songwriting to the delivery of nearly every track. Murr and company keep the intensity level higher than any previous Liberty N’ Justice release. This is an album that has a real down to earth feel even though a lot of the songs are skyrocketing towards the hard rock stratosphere. On earlier LNJ albums you could tell that there was something unique about all these superstars coming together under one name however the production on those efforts were a little hit and miss. What makes Light It Up a more cohesive product is having a bunch of greats like Vic Rivera or CJ Snare involved in making sure the music fan, in general, gets the absolute best experience out of the finished product. If Liberty N’ Justice can sound any better than what was produced for Light It Up then the sky is the limit for Murr and all who associate with him.
Best Tracks
Rockers – Best Time We Never Had, Do What You Believe, Beautiful Decision, Wrestling With God, The Other Thief
Ballads – Every Reason To Believe
Final Rating: 4.98/5
Additional Details
> Similar – Stryper, Guardian, Skillet, Def Leppard, Velvet Revolver, Fozzy, FireHouse
> Label – Retroactive Records
> Artist Link: www.libertynjustice.net
> Purchase Link: Light It Up won’t be available for purchase until January 19th, 2010. Pre-orders available through: www.bombworksrecords.com
