We Wish You a Metal XMas... and a Headbanging New Year!

Various Artists
We Wish You a Metal XMas... and a Headbanging New Year!

Ever notice that Satan is an anagram for Santa? There's nothing overtly satanic here, like Spinal Tap's "Christmas With The Devil," but if you want something a little stronger in your eggnog than Peggy Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree," here are 12 familiar Holiday carols performed by an amalgam of rock legends like Alice Cooper, Lemmy Kilmister, Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, and Dave Grohl, to name a few. Session hessians Bruce and Bob Kulick open with the title track, turning sleigh bells into slay bells with wailing guitars, tight- trousered vocal gymnastics and an all-too convincing double entendre in the phrase, "We won't go until we get some." If you're craving Motörhead's bastardization of Chuck Berry's signature riff, Lemmy brings it in spades on a gnarled version of "Run Rudolph Run," with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons providing the distorted, six-string boogie. Dio and Iommi put some late-period Sabbath alchemy into a foreboding rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" but Alice Cooper's twisted take on "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" takes the cake with John 5 shredding solos over Vinny Appice's pounding drums.

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