Christmas is a time to sing!! 2025

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YouTube singing sensation and budding stage performer Lucy Thomas has a style and sound ripe for Christmas recordings. And sure enough, she just dropped a new cover of "White Christmas". I think the long-gestating musical she's starring in gets its first full performance in the New Year.

 
Guitarist-vocalist Tommy Johansson is mostly focussed on his own band Majestica these days. However, for several years he was in the Swedish power metal band Sabaton, during which time they recorded this lovely piece about the Christmas Truce (songs about historical events and figures are Sabaton's stock in trade and this comes from a whole album about WWI). This is Tommy's solo take on it but it actually doesn't stray far from the original, which is a power ballad rather than Sabaton's usual pounding metal.

 
I've posted this performance in previous years but it was fan videos. This is actually an official pro-shot version. From the 2016 edition of the Raskasta Joulua (Heavy Christmas) tour in Espoo, Finland, this is Floor Jansen with "O Joulouyo", the Finnish version of "O Holy Night". She's going full throttle here and really brings it home. And, yes, in case you're wondering, she was about 7 months pregnant with her first child on this tour.

 
Mendalla said:
I've posted this performance in previous years but it was fan videos. This is actually an official pro-shot version. From the 2016 edition of the Raskasta Joulua (Heavy Christmas) tour in Espoo, Finland, this is Floor Jansen with "O Joulouyo", the Finnish version of "O Holy Night". She's going full throttle here and really brings it home. And, yes, in case you're wondering, she was about 7 months pregnant with her first child on this tour.

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That's excellent cette fini ... las night! Thus morning comes down again ... heavy? damn says those despising the waking's ...

Two nephews spent Christmas at the homestead ... on Christmas morn the younger demanded: "turn out the damn light!"

Speak of the Prince of Darkness ... Gabriel? In there is understanding buried ... a social sub function?
 
Ian Anderson is best known as the vocalist and flautist of prog rock act Jethro Tull (and this video is from the band's channel). However, he does perform as a flautist in other venues as well. This performance of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" backed by a jazz band and the Jugend Sinfonieorchester Rheinland-Pfalz is from 2006. Anderson is as spritely and lively in this performance as he is in Tull.

 
With Taylor Momsen's recent revisiting of "Where Are You Christmas?" from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I was interested when Swedish power metal star Tommy Johansson released his performance of the song from a concert he did at Christmas last year. His is a fairly traditional reading though Tommy's powerful tenor puts a different vocal spin on the song. Too bad the recording quality isn't the greatest.


And I note in the credits for this video that Mariah Carey was a co-writer on the song, along with the film's composer James Horner and Wilbur Jennings. So I am guessing there must be a version by her kicking around somewhere.
 
I know Bette was complaining about "Last Christmas" but this bluesy rock version by Ukrainian band NoApology (then under their old name of Sershen & Zaritskaya) kind of mellowed me on it. Daria Zaritskaya is a wonderful vocalist, perfect for the band's style. And her musical partner Sergey Sershen (I remain unclear if that partnership is also a personal one) is a fantastic guitarist.

 
Kamelot are an American metal band who date back to 1987 and are still going strong today, albeit with a much changed lineup. This is a bit of rarity, an instrumental rock version of "We Three Kings" that they released on a live album in 2000 and which was recently re-released as a bonus track on a remaster of their 1998 album Siege Perilous.

 
A couple from Irish musical collective ANUNA arranged by their founder Michael McGlynn. They are a major force in Irish music and alumni include pop/R&B star Hozier and several singers who have been in Celtic Woman.

First, the Coventry Carol, a serious heartbreaker about the massacre of the innocents.


And then the Wexford Carol, about which they don't give any information. Soloist's name is Aisling McGlynn and at least one comment says she is Michael's daughter. His twin brother is in the group, too, so it's a bit of a family affair.

 
How about some heavy Christmas music?

"Carol of the Bells" is a popular seasonal song based on a Ukrainian tune. And here we have Ukrainian rocker Daria Zaritskaya joining American power trio Halocene for a very heavy performance of it from a few years back. I'm not always fond of Halocene lead singer Addie Amick's voice (whereas I am a huge fan of Daria's), but she and Daria both nail some epic belts here and Addie's husband Brad rips out some nice riffs on the guitar.

 
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