Christmas is coming. While some may celebrate with Nat King Cole or Dean Martin holiday standards, others prefer to ring in the Christmas season in a much louder way. Enter We Wish You A Metal Xmas … and a Headbanging New Year.

Though this album came out only last year, it certainly is a trip to Christmas past. With appearances by Stephen Pearcy, Vinny Appice, Billy Sheehan, and other rock gods, it’s almost as if the Sunset Strip circa 1984 came together on a chilly December evening and decided to shred on some Christmas carols. Metal Xmas sounds like the greatest Christmas album ever produced over the leftover Aquanet fumes from a Mötley Crüe concert.

The best track on Metal Xmas is the album’s opening song, “Run Rudolph Run.” Featuring Dave Grohl on drums, ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, and vocals by Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, this take on the Chuck Berry classic ensures that the listener’s nights will be anything but silent.

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is given the full Black Sabbath treatment with appearances by Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi, and “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” becomes (somehow) even more awesome with the growling vocals of Ratt’s Pearcy and full bass lines by Sheehan.

If a quiet Christmas by the fire isn’t your thing, then this album certainly is. ’Tis the season for rocking, and Metal Xmas is the record for it.

— by Tommy Morgan Jr.