Winter Songs

This was an unexpected pleasure. Halford's crew rocked out some Christmas classics in a way that made them metal songs first and Christmas songs second. The album is half classic Christmas carols and half original "Winter songs." We Three Kings and Oh Come O Come Emmanuel feature some truly unique guitar riffs and What Child is this has a terrific vibe, but I suspect these arrangements are more the work of Roy Z and Metal Mike than Halford himself. The two more vocal oriented songs Oh Holy Night and Oh Come All Ye Faithful were treated more traditionally and I don't think Halford really delivered those like he could have. The originals are a bit of a mixed bag. Get into the Spirit is a metal song, telling you to, well, get into the spirit. I Don't Care is another upbeat tongue in cheek rocker. Christmas is for everyone is a surprising almost old time rock'n roll song. Light of the World is a little out of place, but the title track is an unexpected gem. It's a little melancholy in the midst of the Yuletide cheer, but a really good song on it's own. This is definitely the most interesting of the metal Christmas recordings, so if you like Priest and Christmas, you can't go wrong here. This will definitely become part of my annual Christmas playlist. --Scott

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