Some "Christmas" music is meant to be played all year, and that is most certainly the case with this free digital download featuring 25 tracks and more than two hours of music from vocalist Lance King's Nightmare Records. As King states on the label's web site, "Not all of these were written as Christmas songs, but they all fit the feel and intent of the album."
This is, for the most part, packed with mid-tempo progressive/power metal and ballads. Highlights will vary depending on your musical tastes, but it's hard to go wrong with the epic metal of Theocracy ("Bethlehem"), a bountiful Harmony ballad called "Silently We Fade" and Six Minute Century's "Guitar Concierto." Even astute fans of Nightmare Records may be rather thrilled with the inclusion of songs they might not yet have in their collection, such as tracks from Glass Spires, Gemini and Grimmstine. There also are instrumentals like the peaceful "Sea of Tranquility" (love the name!) from Heart of Sun and "Tears of Pain" from guitarist Keith Miller, and bagpipes introduce Cloudscape's "One Silent Moment." Plus, look for cuts from the label's latest releases by Edgend, Narnia and Futures End – a powerful upstart band from California that can get spiritual even with a song titled "Forsaken." On the other hand, Sacred Dawn's "Wicked Land of Winter" comes off as a poor-man's Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Scelerata's "Spiritual Path" leads straight to stereotypical, faster-than-thou power metal.
Nevertheless, King should be commended for offering this themed collection – a smart alternative to Twisted Sister's A Twisted Christmas for the headbanger's holiday -- and doing so for free. He tells me the free download will stay active until New Year's Day, so grab it now.
Track Listing:
1. Theocracy: Bethlehem (Mirror Of Souls)
2. Edgend: A Chosen Truth (A New Identity)
3. Narnia: Kings will Come (Course of a Generation)
4. Futures End: Forsaken (Memoirs of a Broken Man)
5. Heart of Sun: Sea of Tranquility (Heart of Sun)
6. Cloudscape: One Silent Moment (Global Drama)
7. Sacred Dawn: Wicked Land of Winter (Christmas Single)
8. Keith Miller: Tears Of Pain (Over The Abyss)
9. Harmony: Silently We Fade (Chapter II: Aftermath)
10. Avian: Fall from Grace (Ashes And Madness)
11. Scelerata: Spiritual Path (Skeletons Domination)
12. Glass Spires: Believe (Glass Spires)
13. Gemini: The Harem (Gemini)
14. Darkwater: In My Dreams (Calling The Earth To Witness)
15. Dimension: Ancient song (EGO)
16. Order of Nine: The Chronicles of Jacob Marley (Christmas Single)
17. Evil Masquerade: Orchestration For More Than One Horn (Third Act)
18. Defyance: Fire of the Ancients (Transitional Forms)
19. Grimmstine: You Give Me Love (Grimmstine)
20. Perspective X IV: The Calm (Shadow Of Doubt)
21. Gemini: Coming Home (Gemini)
22. Andromeda: Shadow Of A Lucent Moon (The Immunity Zone)
23. Six Minute Century: Heaven's Gate (Time Capsules)
24. Shining Star: From Now On (Enter Eternity)
25. Six Minute Century: Guitar Concierto (Time Capsules)
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