We whish you a metal Xmas and a headbanging new year is an all-star assemblage as members of hard rock bands as FOO FIGHTERS, QUEENSRŸCHE, DIO, ALICE COOPER, ZZ TOP, DOKKEN, KISS, L.A. GUNS, MARILYN MANSON, MOTÖRHEAD, BLACK SABBATH, KING'S X, JUDAS PRIEST, ANTHRAX, RATT, STYX, TOTO and more all jam out together on some of the most beloved holiday songs of all time (including Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer).
The kick is in the chemistry between the musicians as members of different bands perform together on the material to create a one-of-a-kind listening experience! MOTÖRHEAD's Lemmy, ZZ TOP's Billy Gibbons and FOO FIGHTERS' Dave Grohl, for instance, team up on Run Rudolph Run, a song popularized by Chuck Berry.
"This is a metal CD you will want to listen to all year round," says Wendy Dio, who put the project together with Bob Kulick and Brett Chassen. "It has been a very exciting and exhausting project, but we have managed to get an all-star cast together."
Ironically, the hardest person to get was Dio himself as he doesn't sing Christmas songs. Wendy hounded him for days, finally getting him to listen to Kulick's arrangement of God rest ye merry gentlemen. Dio liked it, added a few bits, recorded it at Kulick's studio, and got Tony Iommi to add his signature guitar sound. The result is a very SABBATH Christmas song. Rounding out the circle of familiar characters on this track are DIO bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Simon Wright.
"The Metal Xmas album was a great opportunity to pay homage to my least favorite holiday," says Dio, "and what a lineup of musicians to do it with! The arrangements of the classic noel songs are fresh and heavy with rock'n'roll, and the performances are equally classic. It's a magical way to change your holiday listening."
