Review Summary: Christmas is Krieg.
For some of us, it’s a bit hard to feel the Christmas spirit. Mankind, it seems, has forgotten the true meaning of the holiday; indeed, popular culture has transformed the day into an excuse for toy companies to profit, and Santa Claus has become naught but a symbol of capitalist greed. German black metallers Erlösung, however, claim that they want to change the public’s approach to Christmas with their anti-capitalist albums
Christmas Ist Krieg and
Satan In Disguise, both of which can, in the true spirit of anti-commercialization, be bought from the band’s website for $8.99.
What we have here is a handful of Christmas carols covered in the style of black metal, which would have rather been original if the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hadn’t been doing essentially the same thing sans black metal for almost twenty years now. Original or not, though, it’s a very fun concept, and it works pretty well.
It’s surprisingly nice to hear the familiar Christmas carols with a touch of grim misanthropy, and many of the songs sound better in their blackened reinterpretations. Christmas Shoes, with it’s shouts of “Christmas ist Krieg,” and Slay Ride, a kvlt reworking of Jingle Bells, work particularly well. Most of the songs feature warm synths playing the melody while icy shrieks and tremolo-picked riffs ring out on top, and the mixture works pretty well. But, odd thing is, Erlösung insist upon inserting superfluous techno beats into Jolly Old St. Nick and Up On A Housetop, and, while they are rather entertaining in the former, they sound indescribably out of place in the latter.
It’s a shame, though, that very few of the songs are able to live up to the examples of Christmas Shoes and Slay Ride. Aside from those tunes, only Jolly Old St. Nick and We Three Kings can be wholeheartedly recommended, while the rest of the carols become dull, plodding messes. Fortunately, though, these highlights are able to build enough momentum to prevent the album from becoming dull.
Also of note are the lyrics, which try their best to be humorous, to little avail. Granted, some lines, such as Slay Ride’s “Oh what fun it is to laugh and scream ‘Satan’ tonight,” are mildly entertaining, but the majority of the jokes (I use this word lightly) consist of replacing seemingly-random words with “blood,” “kill,” or “death,” which soon becomes tedious.
One can certainly find something of interest here, if they are willing to not take their black metal seriously for a few minutes. But, honestly, if one really wants to listen to these guys, they might as well skip this and go to the debut,
Christmas Ist Krieg - at least that one has a funnier title.
2.8/5
Bah Humbug.
