MERRY METAL CHRISTMAS: TOP 10 HOLIDAY METAL SONGS

BY KELLEY SIMMS

Maybe heavy metal music and Christmas don’t go hand in hand, but that hasn’t stopped some of the most prolific artists in the genre from creating some interesting tunes.

Here are the 10 top metal Christmas songs we think best represent this 2019 holiday season.


10. RAMONES: “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)”
Although not metal, the Ramones recorded their first Christmas song in 1987, released as a B-side to the single “I Wanna Live.” The boys deliver this holiday cheer with their trademark punk rock sneer.


9. VENOM: “Black Xmas”
Lead-off track from 1987’s Calm Before the Storm is certainly not the most popular of songs in the notorious band’s repertoire, but it does possess Venom’s trademark tongue-in-cheek evil charm.


8. LEMMY KILMISTER: “Run Run Rudolph”
One of 16 metalized Christmas songs from the 2008 We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year compilation features Motörhead’s late bassist/vocalist Lemmy along with ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons on guitar and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl on drums.


7. LA Guns — “There Ain’t No Sanity Clause”
This snarling cover of The Damned is one of five tunes taken from LA glam rockers LA Guns’ digital EP Another Xmas In Hell album, featuring other covers of holiday classics by the Ramones, Slade, and Billy Squier.


6. ROB HALFORD: “Donner and Blitzen”
Judas Priest vocalist Rob “Metal God” Halford assembled a lineup of family and friends—including his brother Nigel on drums, his nephew Alex (son of Judas Priest’s Ian Hill) on bass, and his sister Sue on bells—for his second album of holiday tunes entitled Celestial.


5. TWISTED SISTER: “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”
This raucous and festive holiday classic is set to the exact rhythm and vocal delivery of the veteran New York cross-dressers’ biggest hit “We’re Not Going To Take It.”


4. PSYCHOSTICK: “Zombie Claus”
“Humorcore” parody metal band Psychostick make some loud noise with a heavy yet fun Christmas parody of the 1998 Rob Zombie hit “Dragula” entitled “Zombie Claus.”


3. SAVATAGE: Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12-24”
Although this track appeared on Savatage’s 1995 Dead Winter Dead album, it became an important hit and spawned the band’s money making Christmas themed side-project, Trans-Siberian Orchestra.


2. SNOWY SHAW: “Krampus”
Prolific Swedish drummer and multi-instrumentalist, from influential bands such as King Diamond, Therion, Dimmu Borgir, Dream Evil, and more, created this “cheerful” ditty for his 2018 solo album White Is the New Black.


1. KING DIAMOND: “No Presents For Christmas”
This 1985 single from Mercyful Fate banshee vocalist’s solo band is synonymous with Christmas. Perhaps it’s the most obvious of metal songs for the No. 1 spot, but it’s also the most well deserved.