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Liege Lord formed in 1982 as a Judas Priest cover band under the original name Deceiver but received critical acclaim, after their name change, for their original material on their 1985 debut, Freedom's Rise. That record was originally recorded as a low budget production on the indie 'Azra' label before being picked up by French label 'Black Dragon', which served to help their cause overseas. That debut album was released in America by 'Ironworks' featuring non-existent marketing and a shabby black and white sleeve, but the European edition on 'Black Dragon' was another matter entirely and was helped greatly by major press interest in for their earlier demo tapes and shaped picture disc EP issued by 'Ironworks'. But in a bizarre twist, 'Black Dragon' dropped the band just prior to their second release because the label thought it was too "thrashy".
Before their relationship with 'Ironworks' was also ended, a whole slew of collectibles surfaced during this time. The Freedom's Rise album would be re-released as a limited gatefold issue, Farewell would see the light of day as a single in a series of cut-to-shape picture discs in the form of a heart shape, Viking shape, as well as 6 and 8 edged variants. In 1987 a collection of demo tracks would also leak out on picture disc restricted to a mere 150 copies.
After signing to 'Metal Blade' and replacing McCarthy with Paul Neilson they managed to knock off Burn to My Touch (1987) produced by Joe Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult fame before replacing Michaud with Joe Comeau on vocals to complete their final set Master Control (1987), including a cover version of Rainbow's Kill The King. This final set would be widely recognized as an underground power metal classic but the band would find themselves in the midst of the now evolving 1990s metal backlash in the form of grunge and the pop/punk movements. Liege Lord toured America co-headlining with Canadian act Anvil before a run of east coast shows with Swedish doom lords Candlemass but would ultimately fold in 1990.
guitarist Paul Nelson would join 'Def Jam' artists the B-Stools. Singer Joe Comeau would front Canadian thrash /speed metal metal band Annihilator by 2000, he would also make credits with New Jersey thrashers Overkill. However, Comeau and Nelson would reunite for a one off project in late 2000 cutting their version of Too Scared To Run for a Uriah Heep tribute album, as well as Dungeons Are Calling for a similar Savatage effort, both released by the German 'Century Media' label. Paul Nelson would also issue the solo album Look putting in a spate of sessions including appearances on the Jason Becker tribute Warmth In The Wilderness and on a rendition of Queensryche's Speak included on the New York benefit album United - We All Stand Together assembled by the Italian 'Frontiers' label.
Liege Lord did reform briefly in 2000, however, under the line-up of Nelson, Comeau, with Overkill and Anvil man Sebastian Marino on guitar and the rhythm section of Marino's side project Ramrod for the Wacken Open Air Festival.
guitarist Anthony Truglio went on to play in the band Gandhi with Page Hamilton from Helmet, and also played in the new version of Helmet.
As of August 2012, Liege Lord was active again and headlined the Keep It True XVI festival, which took place from April 19-20, 2013, at Tauberfrankenhalle in Lauda-Königshofen, Germany under the membership of Joe Comeau (vocals), Tony Truglio (guitar), Matt Vinci (bass), Danny Wacker (guitar) and Frank Gilchriest (drums).
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