Various

Wow, I’ve been waiting for ages for a Live Aid-esque smorgasbord of hair metal vets playing Christmas carols. Good thing Eagle Rock has teamed up with Wendy Dio, various Kulicks (why are they always involved with this stuff?) and everyone from Jeff Scott Soto (no surprise) to Chuck Billy (huh?) to bring us this collection of 12 tunes done up as you never thought possible. Not sure who buys this stuff: out-of-touch parents or pub buds for a lark, I suppose. And I’ll concede it’s good for a listen, and of course the musicianship is pretty top-notch, featuring Lemmy, Gibbons, Grohl, Tate, Cavazo, Sheehan, Lynch, Ripper, Scott Ian, Tempesta, Bissonette, Sarzo, Shaw, Aronoff, Pinnick, Pearcy, Guns, etc. But one listen is about all it’ll get. Best songs? Does it matter? Let’s say Chuck Billy, Scott Ian and John Tempesta, amongst others, jamming on "Silent Night,” just because that’s really, really weird. Lemmy singing "Run Rudolph Run” is actually pretty damn cool as well, and he sings it like he means it.