CHRISTMAS EVE & OTHER STORIES

But if you are not in the mood for Christmas music, then most of this bands discography is going to go over your head.

Christmas Eve and Other Stories was their debut, and it sold well enough for them to continue producing albums years afterward. It was a pretty solid album, and at the time of its debut, I probably would have given it three stars, but there isn't a whole lot of point in owning all three of their Christmas albums, and The Lost Christmas Eve (released 8 years later) was arguably superior.

That does not mean there is nothing to enjoy in this album. It has many fun songs, such as Star to Follow, and it has what made Trans-Siberian Orchestra really worth hearing: excellent metal adaptations of classical music. On this album, the best tracks were First Snow, Mad Russian's Christmas, and Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), each being excellent adaptations.

Each Trans-Siberian Orchestra album is accompanied by a story, and listening to the music while following the story in the booklets and reading the lyrics is half of the fun of their music. The story to this album is not particularly stunning, however, being about an angel coming down to earth to find the meaning of Christmas. It is a family friendly story, and there's nothing wrong with it, but it is not their most interesting.

The end of the album feels a bit longer. The story moves more at this part, but Trans-Siberian Orchestra has a habit of making songs with more exposition sound more generic than their other pieces. This is not bad on all of their albums, but on this one, it is quite obvious near the ending (from Ornament to An Angel Returns).

When Trans-Siberian Orchestra performed live last year, they did two sections to their show. The first section was this album in completion, and the second section was their better instrumental pieces. If they took the three songs mentioned above, and all the instrumental pieces from the second half of their show except for those from Beethoven's Last Night, they'd probably have a prog/metal-lovers best possible Christmas album.

With only a few high points on this album, and a story that is not quite as theatric as their best, this album is for those who are already fans of their music. Others would be better served getting Lost Christmas Eve.

As a final note, if Lost Christmas Eve is not available and you are forced to choose between this one and The Christmas Attic, take this one.

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