Customer Reviews

Twisted Christmas

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is the perfect Christmas album for all your twisted friends, particularly if they wear black mascara and spandex and call themselves SMFs. It's probably not a good choice for your grandmother or parish priest, but then again you know them better than I do.

Heavy metal versions of Christmas songs are one thing, but when "O Come All Ye Faithful" begins sounding like "We're Not Gonna Take It" it's a whole new season. Each of the songs gets a Twisted tweak, but none more so than "Heavy Metal Christmas" which is the TS version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Forget the partridge and turtle doves, leaping lords and other dumb gifts, and get the heavy metal gift list instead:

On my heavy metal Christmas my true love gave to me,
12 Silver crosses
11 Black mascaras
10 Pairs of platforms
9 Tattered t-shirts
8 Pentagrams
7 Leather jackets
6 Cans of hairspray
5 Skull earrings
4 Quarts of Jack
3 Studded belts
2 Pairs of spandex pants
And a tattoo of Ozzy!

Extra points awarded for TS for having the guts to twist Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a twisted Christmas.



Amanda Richards, October 21, 2006

The second, and supposedly final, recording by Twisted Sister after they reunited in the early 2000's. This is quite an odd beast, it is an album of traditional Christmas songs recorded by Twisted Sister. On the surface it seems like quite a bizarre concept; something that wouldn't work. But wow - does it work. I've been a TS fan since the early 80's right before they broke big with "We're Not Gonna Take It". I've followed them since then pretty well, I'd like to say I like something from all their eras, but when I heard about this, I thought "Ugh". But I gave it a shot, and it hooked me.

What makes this work for me I think is that I've always been someone who has disliked Christmas music. It's not because of the meaning behind the songs, it's generally been the music itself. Not so much the songs, but the way they're played. To me, most Christmas music is unlistenable. But this completely works. So much so I've been hooked since the day it came out. In the week and a half since it's been released (I'm writing this on the 27th, 10 days after release) I've probably listened to it 20 or 30 times. It has crystallized my feelings on Christmas music that it's the presentation of the songs. Since I'm a metal guy, I loved this presentation.

Two things to point out here. The actual songs themselves are unchanged (other than the instruments they're played on obviously) except for two songs. The first is "Oh Come All Ye Faithful". The lyrics are the same, but the music is the music from "We're Not Gonna Take It". It's quite interesting to see how well those lyrics fit that song. The other modified one is the 12 Days of Christmas. Instead of the traditional 12 gifts, TS has things like "Tattoo of Ozzy", "Spandex Pants", "Cans of Hairspray", etc. That's quite funny.

The problem with this album is that most metal heads will dismiss it out of hand because it doesn't fit their generally narrow view of what a hard rock/heavy metal album should be. Shame, as this album works very well for this old school Twisted Sister fan.

I have been waiting for a metal Xmas album for years. Finally, one that deserves at least 1 listen. The album is great. You can listen to it obviously at Xmas time but it is also great enough to listen to through out the year.

I'm a great lover of all kinds of Christmas music, but I was light on heavy-metal Christmas music. Obviously. I took a chance on this CD and it didn't disappoint. While Twisted Sister doing Christmas sounds gimmicky, surprisingly it works. Most of the songs are earnest renditions of the classics while remaining true to the spirit of metal. I appreciated in particular that Oh Come All Ye Faithful - with more than a wink to We're Got Gonna Take It - was respectful of the religous content of the original. Sister probably never received true credit for their talent; this album suggests to me that they had plenty of it to spare.

First and foremost you probably need to be a fan of Christmas music and the 80s era of hard rock in general before you can appreciate this album. Many friends I know hate Christmas music, they are just humbugs. They also despise Hair Metal which deeply offends me from the bottom of my soul. Twisted Sister did a fantastic job recreating all of the Holiday classics on this album. What's amazing is when you listen to the songs like "Deck The Halls," you'll realize that these guys are the real deal and the song arrangements are extremely well done. These standards get rejuvinated when they are put to the '80s big hair rock style. Dee Snider is hitting the notes and the band is on point just have a listen to the best song on the album "Oh Come oh ye Faithful," it gives me chills. There's also an '80s metal duet with Dee and Lita Ford teaming up for "I'll Be Home For Christmas." It'll really pump up your holiday playlist so I definitely recommend it! Also check out Monster Ballads Xmas which is a great compilation of 80s rock bands doing Christmas classics.

Review no. 60. I'll give this CD a four-star rating for effort alone. I mean, when I first heard about this ten track release in advance, I really didn't think that Dee Snider and crew could pull it off. Glad to see that I was wrong. Wanted to catch Twisted Sister last time they were in my town but I didn't get to go. If I ever get to see them again, I really would like to hear them perform one or two of these cuts even on a summer tour. Tunes I was impressed the most with were "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful", "White Christmas", "Silver Bells", the rocking "Deck The Halls" and "The Christmas Song". Personally, I think even patrons that don't usually like metal would enjoy this disc to some extent. A should-have.

I purchased this CD for my 13 year old son, but I just LOVED it! I listen to a lot of Christmas music during the month of December and it is now at the top of my list! It's a great CD because both adults and children will enjoy it!

I'm gonna make this review short and sweet. For quite a while I have been looking for a Christmas CD that I could actually play and tolerate for a good amount of time. I don't mind regular christmas music, but thing is I just wanted a metal christmas cd. I figured there bound to have one, so I ran across this beauty.

Now, I'm going to be honest. I don't particularly like Twisted Sister but they couldn't of done a better job on this cd if they tried. Seriously, this is exactly what I wanted. A christmas CD played to the style of heavy metal. Everything is done to perfection and I have no gripes.

When I heard about this album, I had to laugh. I thought what kind of idiot would buy that, then I saw it at Wal Mart and realized I was just that kind of idiot! So I bought it, and listened to it and was surprised. It's not bad at all, remakes of classic metal songs by Twisted Sister and Sabbath are a nice touch, and Heavy Metal Christmas good. It's a nice break from the over played and annoying regular Christmas music you hear every year.

I must say, I give Twisted Sister credit for having the balls to do something like this. Buy the cd, and bring it to your familys Christmas celebration!

I was first skeptical when I saw their page on myspace, but after hearing O come oh ye faithful I was hooked. totally rockin christmas albumn sure to be a classic throughout the years. Love this CD and would reccommend it to someone who is looking for a not so traditional albumn to rock out on the holidays..