August Burns Red goes Christmas

Blabbermouth.net

The holidays always provide an opportunity for artists to capitalize on merchandise sales by offering limited edition products, bundles, discounts, and other promotions. A great way to seize the season is to release a Christmas cover song album just as August Burns Red released “Sleddin’ Hill” this year. The album features 13 tracks by the Christian metal band, each one taking a familiar holiday song. “Sleddin’ Hill” redefines Christmas songs to include a double bass pedal, fast tempos, and technical guitar solos.

The first track of the album, “Flurries,” sets the tone for what is to come. August Burns Red uses the song to show the listener that although this is a Christmas album, it does not mean that there is going to only be sleigh bells and soft melodies. The song starts of with characteristic sleigh bells to set the mood and gradually progresses to a faster tempo adding in harder drums and guitar melodies. Throughout the entire song, August Burns Red effectively uses breakdowns and tempo changes to keep the listener guessing what is coming next. August Burns Red did a fantastic job of incorporating traditional Christmas elements with their well-known sound, especially in this song. The entire album can be streamed on Youtube.

“Sleddin’ Hill” also features other holiday favorites such as:

Frosty the Snowman

Sleigh Ride

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Jingle Bells

Oh Holy Night

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Little Drummer Boy

Winter Wonderland

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Carol of the Bells

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

August Burns Red’s rendition of “Oh Holy Night” stars off slow and rather indistinguishable. It isn’t until about a minute into the song that the famous melody can be identified. The song incorporates the use violins and sounds a bit Irish before August Burns Red takes over and develops the chorus to their liking. “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” is easily identified from the first chords of the song. It too incorporates violins but also adds horns (perhaps a tuba). Half way through the song, August Burns Red slows the tempo to ¾ time before picking it back up again with a guitar solo, proving that nothing is impossible. Overall, this album is the perfect gift for any August Burns Red fan. It has the perfect amount of Christmas and metal and is definitely worth a listen.