Various Artists – A Santa Cause 2003

Immortal Records have gathered some of the best known punk bands along with some of the best up and coming punk bands together all in one amazing compilation album. Each band (a total of 20) have supplied one Christmas song to the album. Be it a cover song of a classic Christmas tune or one of their own; each one has their unique style and sound to it.

The beginning of the album is by far the strongest part of the whole CD. The first song, Christmas In Hollis by The A.K.A.s, gets you pumped up right away with their uptempo beat and hard rap-like vocals. They then slow it down with Something Corporate‘s Forget December; between these two tracks there is a major style change; and yet somehow it’s not overbearing. They then change the style all around once again with December Is For Cynics by The Matches. Other songs in the opening half of the album includes songs from Blink182, Fall Out Boy, MXPX, From First To Last and New Found Glory. Each one adds a little something extra to this incredibly compilation album.

The second half of the album is a bit more of a let down; with songs which are much slower and are most often covers of classics songs. Some of the songs are done incredibly well and suits the album; but one other tracks they could’ve uped the tempo a bit. The highlight of the second half is Stand Still‘s rendition of I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause. Replacing “mommy” with “daddy” and changing the lyrics around makes the song really fun to listen to. Other standout tracks in the second half comes from the good people in Punchline and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Overall, this is an album which will continually find it’s way into your CD player; even when it’s no where near Christmas! I don’t know about you, but I’m sure in the Christmas mode already!