Nothing says Christmas like Bad Religion, right? Well, maybe not. But for those out there who bristle at the thought of another December plagued by pop cash-ins and also-rans, ‘Christmas Songs’ could become a festive tonic for years to come.
This record collects eight standards, as well as a somewhat superfluous Andy Wallace mix of American Jesus, and injects them with a much-needed dose of irony, some frantic guitars and oozin’ aahs.
Hearing Greg Graffin - evolutionary biologist and punk icon - crooning his way through Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is bloody entertaining, despite any initial reservations.
Further bolstering this unlikely success is the band’s own propensity for complex, layered vocal harmonies, which are exercised here as a matter of necessity.
Alongside traditional fare such as O Come, All Ye Faithful and O Come O Come Emmanuel there are reworkings of White Christmas - which is set to the intro of Ramones’ I Wanna Be Sedated - and Little Drummer Boy, on which drummer Brooks Wackerman duly gets a chance to hit hard.
‘Christmas Songs’ is slight, clocking in at under 20 minutes, but Bad Religion have earned the right to release it. ‘True North’, which arrived back in January, proved that they are a punk band still at the height of their creative powers, so there’s no danger of this record spelling a retreat into parody. Similarly, 20% of the proceeds will be donated to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
Every Christmas we end up with something that we don’t want. ‘Christmas Songs’, perhaps surprisingly, won’t go down that way.
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