HALFORD — Winter Songs (review)

Album · 2009 · Heavy Metal

1.5/5 · 2015-12-19
Vim Fuego

Despite performing internationally since the 1970s, Rob Halford has never seemed to want for inspiration or new ideas, reinventing himself over the years, through leaving and rejoining Judas Priest, and forming solo acts Fight, 2wo and the self-titled Halford. Metal fans are often deeply cynical of anything which looks phony, and Christmas albums can be seen as a seasonal cash-in, a way for artists to make a few easy bucks.

As such, Halford took something of a risk releasing “Winter Songs”. Risks do not always pay off, and this is one of those failures. Halford and his talented band wasted their time and resources creating an uneven album which does not seem to know exactly what it’s intended audience is. “Winter Songs” veers from driving metal remakes of traditional carols to tacky modern pop to 70s influenced rock, and then back to non-metal reimaginings of the traditional.

“Get Into The Spirit” is a rocking enough start, sounding like “Exciter” but with seasonal lyrics. It’s fairly standard Halford fare, pretty good while you’re listening to it, but without a killer hook or riff which is going to stay in your head hours later.

Second track “We Three Kings” is the best on the album. For some reason, the ancient melody of the song suits a metal remake very well. The piano gives it just enough of a traditional air to counterbalance the driving kick drums and the widdly solos. It’s not particularly taxing vocally, but Rob Halford has nothing left to prove to anyone.

“Oh Come O Come Emanuel” is an awful hymn, and remaking it metal style just does not work. It is possibly just far too old, and too sedate, originally dating from the 15th century. This song will have deep spiritual meaning to many, but it is the wrong song for this band.

“Winter Song” is a modern Christmas song from Canada. The original version by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson reached number 97 in the Canadian charts, and 2 in the Irish charts. Halford shows his subtler style, but the lyrics are so cloying, schmaltzy and sickly sweet most metal fans will hit the skip button after a few seconds. This means missing a nice solo at the end, but the payoff for hanging on isn’t worth the effort.

“What Child Is This?” is given a semi-acoustic treatment, with a booming percussive beat. It plays something like a modern madrigal, and is one of the better songs on offer. The traditional Christian lyrics might be a bit much for some metal fans, but the vocal melody line is quite attractive.

“Christmas for Everyone” and “I Don’t Care” are Halford originals, and seem to be an attempt at capturing the spirit of Slade’s “Merry Christmas Everybody”, but are not as good. These songs try to capture the 70s glam rock anthem feel, but are too derivative, and fall flat.

“Light Of The World” is the worst of the originals. It tries to be a modern Christmas carol, but it’s just plain dull. It is slow and boring, with dreary string accompaniments, and ultimately sounds depressing.

“O Holy Night” features a nice ethereal vocal effect, and metal guitars seem to suit it well. Thankfully, this is sped up a bit from the more traditional seasonal dirge, and is one of the tracks which works reasonably well.

“O Come All Ye Faithful” is so pompous and overblown it makes Queen’s version of “God Save The Queen” seem restrained in comparison. Rob Halford hits his full operatic bluster, belting out “Come, let us adore him” like it was “Beyond The Realms Of Death”. The intention must have been for a rousing finale to the album, but it’s just too laughable to take seriously.

As a whole, ”Winter Songs” falls flat. The intention was genuine enough, to make a Christmas album metal fans could enjoy, but a poor selection of ancient carols and some clunky originals make for a deeply flawed album. This album is a blemish on the reputation of both Halford the man and the band, but the previous body of incredible work more than compensates.

more than 2 years ago
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voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Sounds horrendous!

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I don't think "blemish" is too harsh a word. After all, it's not an almighty great fuck up like Cold Lake! And I do enjoy the rockier songs. I just spend a bit of time skipping the others.

Bosh66 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It's a good review and I can't say I disagree with any of your track by track analysis. Calling it a blemish is a tad harsh though. Taken for what it is, it's quite a fun album. Background music for the season. I quite enjoy it anyhow.