You wouldn’t normally associate heavy metal with Christmas music. After all, Christmas songs tend to be either happy and upbeat or gentle and tender. Heavy metal, on the other hand, is loud and aggressive: lots of hammering bass and distorted guitar sounds. One psychologist described metal concerts as “the sensory equivalent of war.” The look and lyrics are invariably dark and some metal gets very dark indeed. There are sub-genres called death metal, sludge metal, doom metal, thrash metal, and, of course, extreme metal. And yet, two well-known metal artists have collaborated to produce a surprisingly pleasant Christmas song!
One of them is the Swedish soprano Eliza Ryd. After earning her degree from a performing arts school, she got her professional start performing in a cabaret in Gothenburg. Gradually, she was discovered and did vocal work for several bands. In 2008, a 24 year-old Ryd and two collaborators formed the metal band “Amaranthe” in which she served as head composer and vocalist. Amid all her success at Amaranthe, she’s managed to find time to work on numerous other musical projects.
The other is Tony Kakko. The tenor, who screams in some of his work (such is metal), is from a small town in north-central Finland. His big break came in 1996 when he and several others founded the power metal band “Sonata Arctica.” Like Eliza Ryd, Tony Kakko’s duties at his main band haven’t kept him from taking part in other projects.
Ryd and Kakko have worked together to create “Christmas is Here” and it’s nothing like anything you’d expect from heavy metal singers. We’ve posted the music video below and hope you’ll enjoy it!
Were you surprised that heavy metal singers could produce such a lovely Christmas song? How did you like it? Let us know in the comments at Facebook. Be sure to like and share: your friends and family may be surprised to hear you’re having a metal Christmas!
