Undeniably the heaviest and most brutal Christmas/Metal hybrid to date...The sound is generally in the late 80’s, early 90’s classic slower Death Metal style such as Obituary and naturally, Monstrosity. Even the cover art matches perfectly with a bleeding Virgin Mary to stick with the evil theme. Death Metal Christmas is really a breath of fresh winter air in the Metal/Christmas sub-genre...put copy of this in the stocking of every Metal fan you know!

...the metalized versions are mixed together with the melodies of the old standards. The result is not so much a novelty piece as a strange and fascinating experiment in extreme music that stands up well on its own...If you're looking for the must unorthodox and challenging renditions of vintage carols and old-time madrigals ever recorded, or just want to hear one of the more fascinating death metal concept records, you should give yourself the gift of Death Metal Christmas this holiday season.

However, the holiday season is no joke to Hrubovcak and it’s clear that actual time and funds were devoted here. If we couldn’t so easily identify the jingles of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" or the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", it would undoubtedly be mistaken for a milestone record in Hrubovcak’s death metal career. Maybe this cozy holiday and the sounds of extreme death metal compliment each other better than we thought.

Here is a man who understands how to make Christmas a truly metal affair. His five track opus Death Metal Christmas - Hellish Renditions Of Christmas Classics not only fits the bill of being carols (mostly) but is also something you’ll be proud to own and play... Tchaikovsky and Hrubovcak, 120 years apart and are brought together by a love of music. I’d like to think if the Russian composer heard this latest interpretation of his masterpiece he’d be a very happy man. It certainly does him justice.

Here's to hoping a short release like this could become a holiday tradition... For anyone who is in the mood for some metal Christmas music that doesn't seem like a cheap ploy or joke, seek this out.

The musicianship on display here is excellent; the whole thing sounds like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra for death metalheads…. And the Nutcracker theme? Forget about it. It would easy to assume this was a jokey toss-off, but it’s actually a well-crafted and surprisingly passionately delivered album of death metal Christmas classics, which is a really odd thing to say.

I can’t think of any metal Christmas songs that captures the bleak darkness of Christmas like this album. Despite what churches tell you about the meaning of Christmas, these songs were not written in the happiest of times. They sound happy of the surface but there is an undercurrent of death, misery and woe.

It's a Christmas album. It's death metal. I thought the two never shall meet but when I realized it's done by JJ Hrubovcak, the current bassist for Hate Eternal, I thought it needs to be good. That's exactly what JJ has done here... Congratulations ... You've done what no one has done prior. Make Christmas music cool.

This admittedly tenuous concept works as well as it does largely because they avoid hokey, cornball tunes like "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" or, Heaven forbid, the execrable "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Instead, they wisely went with darker, more somber choices like "We Three Kings" and "Greensleeves." These classics are then whipsawed into broootal death metal along the lines of Morbid Angel, Massacre ...

Hrubovcak has paid close attention to the music and his arrangements are rammed with the ugliest and most brutal of sounds from the low end of the ruthlessly punishing blast beats and grimy guitar riffs to the guttural and gruesome vocals and wailing lead breaks

(Google Translate from Dutch) Oh, I should also stopped going to talk about. Music Said bands give a good indication of what to expect. The Hrubovcak brothers go wild on gray death metal, doom death of grueling slow to ultra fast blast winding passages. Once listening to the music, but the text seems secondary, though you recognize in which music is the familiar themes of the existing Christmas songs. The personal touch that is given to it, making it more prettier, I think, by approaching.

Finally, a Christmas album Metal fans can sink their teeth into. I'm fairly certain "Greensleves" has never been played this fast or with such a cool guitar solo. On "Earthen Kings" ("We Three Kings") J.J. embraces the dirge-like tempo of the original and delivers a bit of Doom/Death. Original lyrics, when applicable, have been warped and twisted to deliver a dark, pro-Azrael message.

I have re-listened to this mini-album for many times now, and it keeps on giving. I have discovered something new every time I went back, so this definitely deserved the Surprise of the Month tag and your attention, whether you are a headbanger willing to look at a spiritual melody or a mainstream listener who was always wondering what those death metal monsters are about.

This is actually one of the best performances of the piece that I’ve ever heard and the track still maintains the amount of class that made the original so viable. It’s just a bit heavier with no real amount of derivation from the source material, meaning that J.J. definitely had some respect for the original piece.

What should be a half-hearted limp through a cover that could easily be interpreted as a tongue in cheek joke, instead becomes a dramatic and bombastic slab of truly crushing death metal. So go and check out ‘Dance Of The Sugar Plum‘ over at Decibel. And remember: drink and be merry, for tomorrow we praise Satan.

In my opinion J.J Hrubovcak is a very great sounding artist and if you are looking for something original in death meta, you should check out this ep. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Unrest For Melancholy Men (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)" and "O Come, O Come, Azrael (O Come, O, Come, Emmanuel)". RECOMMENDED BUY.