Customer Reviews

Excelsis Boxset

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For several years now, this has been my favorite collection of holiday music. Haunting, ethereal vocals & chiming, ringing, echoing melodies as fragile & beautiful as snowflakes ... the effect is one of being inside a ruined but still sanctified cathedral on a winter night, with angelic voices carrying on the wind, icicles singing like tiny bells, and a feeling of utter peace, purity & a cold, clear stillness all around. Most highly recommended!

Someone at first might think that a gothic type set of Christmas music would be silly. I at first thought that a lot of the songs might be brooding and too moody. But, it's not like that at all.
The first volume seems like it's pretty bare bones. I'm sure as with any compilation it takes a lot of work and care, but the first volume, although pretty decent, seems like the person in charge asked various dark influence groups "hey guys, I'm putting together a Christmas album and was wondering if you wanted to contribute a song. Oh you have a couple weeks to get me a song." BUT of course, maybe the low production value feel is the exact tone that the artists and producer were going for. So, we don't really know. It's just the impression that I got. The 2nd and 3rd volumes are more enjoyable as it seems like more effort was put into including songs that are richer and better planned. As if everyone was given a lot more time to make the next compilations even better than the first. I say it's a worthwhile set. I have a lot of Christmas music and it's nice to have this Excelsis set in the mix to break up some of the monotony of the traditional music.

It features classics and new songs. I'm enjoying listening to it. I'm glad I splurged and bought the whole box set at once!! Definitly worth it!