Phil Joel's Zealand To Release Debut Album 'Liberated' On Feb. 9

Zealand Liberated
Cover for Zealand's 2018 album 'Liberated.' |

On Feb. 9, Zealand will release their full-length debut album Liberated, the highly anticipated follow-up to 2015's Zealand Worship - The EP. Zealand was founded by Grammy-nominated, Dove Award-winning frontman Phil Joel, formerly of Christian supergroup Newsboys where he was a member for twelve years.

Joel, who has co-written all 10 tracks on the album, explains, "The heart behind this album is to see people from the earliest age possible-get Liberated from the things that hold them back and weigh them down. We want to witness others get excited about life and embrace the vision and adventure God has for each one of us."

Liberated is produced by Brent Milligan (Colony House, Tauren Wells), as well as Philip Zach (Remedy Drive) and Galen Crew. The album also features songwriting contributions from We Are Messengers' Darren Mulligan; Grammy-winner Seth Mosley; multi-Dove Award-winner Jason Ingram; and Dove Award-nominee Benji Cowart, among others.

During his time in Newsboys, Joel was featured on albums such as Take Me To Your Leader and Step Up To The Microphone, singing lead on one of the group's No. 1 hits "Entertaining Angels." Following his departure from Newsboys, Joel has released several solo albums.

Alongside Joel, Zealand consists of Ben Garrett on the guitar, Roger Angove on the bass guitar, and Ben Bugna on drums. The band is currently scheduled to play on the K-Love Cruise in Bahamas Jan. 22-27 and shortly after heads out on the "Newsboys United Tour" together with Newsboys, kicking off in Stockton, Calif., Feb. 15 and wrapping up in Shawnee, Okla., on May 6.

To find out more information about Zealand and their upcoming album Liberated, visit the official website here.

Lastly, Zealand stands out by actively rejecting social media and you can find out why in the video below, where fellow Christian singer-songwriter Michael Farren interviews Phil Joel on what Farren jokingly describes as "grace-filled extremism":