whipping to death a sloppy, sneering, gargling and infinitely amusing version of “Run Rudolph Run.” Alice Cooper digs into “Santa Claws Is Coming to Town” for a signature creep-out, informing kids that Santa knows where you sleep and he knows that “your window’s open.”
Stephen Pearcy tackles a more modern holiday tune, RATT-ing his way through “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer” with L.A. Guns guitarist and fellow hair-banger Tracii Guns.
Machine-gun drumming from Testament’s John Tempesta and piercing, arpeggiated guitar shredding lay the musical bed for Testament’s Chuck Billy, who wolf-growls through a thrash-metal take on “Silent Night.”
“We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year” is epic horrible’ an instantaneous Christmas classic.
“?Joe Wertz
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2008.