Trans Siberian Orchestra This Christmas Day Review

Trans Siberian Orchestra is known as one of the best Christmas Rock and Metal bands ever.  Starting in 1996 TSO was born when the prog metal band, Savatage ended.  Paul O' Neill, Jon Oliva, Robert Kinkel, and Al Pitrelli would become the leaders of this huge music production and they would put their vision to the test when they were making the Christmas Eve and Other Stories album.  They decided to create the melodic metal Christmas themed album by bringing together many different vocalists and musicians and it would result in one of the best and highly recognized Christmas albums of all time.  Christmas Eve and Other Stories would come to contain one of my all time favorite Christmas rock songs, This Christmas Day. 

This Christmas Day has a great musical flow to it.  The way it starts with piano and horns is a good slow intro that sets you up for a positive, uplifting Christmas song.  Then when Tommy Farese starts singing he really builds on that feeling.  Tommy has a very good blues style voice that fits perfectly with this song.  He captures the mood and feel so well and I would argue that nobody does it better then him.  Then there is the great melodic guitar work of Al Pitrelli.  I have always thought Al Pitrelli is an underrated guitar player and he delivers big time on this song.  He owns the guitar solo he plays in this song.  It is very melodic and well balanced to include some fancy playing without getting away from what the mood is.  Musically, everybody did a fantastic job. 

Lyrically, this is a good message about a daughter returning home for Christmas.  The verse starts out with the family wondering what the meaning of Christmas is and contemplating if there is a meaning.  Then when the chorus comes in and the daughter returns they realize what Christmas is about.  I like a song that tells a story lyrically and this song does it very well.  When you hear the lyrics you know what the story is and it really captures your attention which is not easy to do.  Jon Oliva and Paul O Neill did a fantastic job writing the lyrics.

I have seen TSO three times and every time they have played this song and they have made it sound amazing.  This song is very well composed, very well written, and creates a unique Christmas song that sounds like TSO and TSO alone.  Christmas Eve and Other Stories is a great album and the one song I recommend the most off it is This Christmas Day.  For its well written lyrics and well composed music I give This Christmas Day a 5 out of 5.    

Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas Eve and Other Stories Album Review

When Savatage decided to become TSO in 1996 they decided to make the Dead Winter Dead  be their inspiration for their music going forward.  They would focus on a combination of Christmas themed music and their classical metal style they used in Savatage. This combination would come to be when TSO debuted in 1996 with the Christmas Eve and Other Stories albums.

Musically, they deliver big time on this record.  This album has some of the best instrumental songs I have heard in a while.  From the heavy hitting Christmas Eve Sarajevo, to the classical rock combo of O Come All Ye Faithful, this album is full of amazing instrumentals.  The vocal songs are amazing as well.  You have great classical voices on songs such as An Angel Came Down.  Then you got more bluesy style vocals on songs like Good King Joy and This Christmas Day.  The music on the vocal songs is nothing to overlook as well.  The guitar solo in This Christmas Day is a great melodic solo that helps give that powerful feel to the song.  The same thing can be said about An Angel Returned, the melodic solo helps drive that Christmas Spirit the song is going for.

 

Lyrically, this album is all Christmas themed, like the music.  What makes the Christmas theme work so well lyrically is how the band makes every song with lyrics in it a story.  For example,  Good King Joy does a great job of sing about the Nativity.  When you listen to that song you hear a great blues take on the journey of the wise men and the birth of Jesus Christ.  Another example would be This Christmas Day.  This song is about a families daughter returning home on Christmas Day and them celebrating Christmas joyfully when she returns.  With each set of lyrics telling a great Christmas story, you are in for a series of very compelling lyrics.  

Christmas Eve and Other Stories is not just a great Christmas album, but a great rock album as well.  It is one of the few albums I have seen that successfully reaches both the rock crowd and the non rock crowd.  If you are a metal head or rocker you need to buy this record.  If you are looking for good quality Christmas music you need to buy this record.  While the album is available on ITunes, I recommend getting a physical copy of this record.  The album artwork is amazing and seeing how many people contributed to it in the booklet is memorable.  If you see it in a record store in a CD section don't hesitate, buy it!!