Graceful Degradation

What would you think of an album featuring the likes of Phil Lewis (LA Guns), Kerri Kelli (Alice Cooper), Bumblefoot (Guns N Roses & Lita Ford), Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Chris Holmes (WASP), Marq Torien (BulletBoys), Jeff Pilson (Dokken and Foreigner), Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister) and may others of that ilk? Hair metal heaven? In a way. Totally rocking? Definitely. Christian rock? Umm...

Well, that's what this is. Liberty N' Justice is no longer a band but a studio project based around founder and songwriter Justin Murr and a bunch of hired guns who happen to be from some of the biggest names of the 80s rock scene. And it is Christian rock - or Melodic Rock with a Message as described in the press release accompanying the CD. There's no need to worry though, it isn't a message that you will be bludgeoned over the head with. True, the likes of Every Reason To Believe are balladic outpourings of a faith position, but it's wonderfully paced, a fabulous melody, and features Kerri Kelli - bonus!

Vocally, the whole album is terrific, both in Murr's lead and in the harmonising background. There are some storming rockers, Wrestling With God being quite a favourite of mine with a supremely good guitar solo from Robin "Bumblefoot" Thal. Some of the tracks have a flavour of the contributors about them as well although the writing credits are split between the same few. Man Vs Mother Nature, for instance, is unmistakeably a Ted Poley kind of track while one listen and you know Drunk Dead Gorgeous is very much a Marq Torien and Chris Holmes kind of thing.

In my youth, I went through a phase of listening to Christian music - and I have to confess that a lot of it was complete crap. When a band is more concerned with the message than the medium it very often sounds like the music is an afterthought and secondary to the oh, so pious and heartfelt lyrics. This eighth album from Liberty N' Justice is nothing like that. Sure, it carries a message in the lyrics (Uncle Sam is as much political as anything else), but the songs are really strong, brilliantly put together, catchy as hell and very, very high quality. Every rock fan should be checking this out. It's staggeringly good.