Albums of The Week of Christmas Past

Christmas Season is one of those special times a year for listening to music. This year, I have no shortage of fantastic albums to make my Christmas Season bright and heavy. But I’m also working on my Top 100 Albums of 2023, and I seriously need a break from the avalanche of awesome this year has been.

That got me thinking earlier in the week about classic albums that I always associate with Christmas: stuff that reminds me of Christmas past. So what the heck, some of you might be amused by stuff I listened to before this thing called Stoner/Doom.

Albums of The Week of Christmas Past

The Who – Quadrophenia

Before I even thought about getting high or getting drunk on a daily basis, my parents bought this for me as a Christmas present in 1979. In fact, they bought me both versions: the movie and the original recording. But this is the version I grabbed onto the most fiercely.

I was only 15, and hadn’t quite begun to experience everything that’s in this album. But looking back on it, it sure looks like a template for my later years. Even though I didn’t understand the material in a personal way, I could appreciate the album.

Quadrophenia is a master class of rock bass playing. John Entwistle holds nothing back on this album, and, amazingly, the band allowed him to get away with the insane riffing he brings to the table.

Being a young bass player myself, that’s the first thing I paid attention to. But when I listened to it this week, what also struck me was the perfect rhythm guitar playing that Pete Townsend recorded, and the insane percussion work of Keith Moon. For me, Roger Daltry’s vocals never sounded better than on this album. I understand that a lot of people referred to Who’s Next as the pinnacle of the band.

But for me, it doesn’t get any better than this, from beginning to end. It was meant to be an emotional roller coaster, and the older I get, the more clearly it succeeds.

Coroner – Mental Vortex

Christmas, 1991, was a dark and horrible year. I’m not talking “Doom” dark, I’m talking full-on addiction dark and all the bullshit that goes along with that. I’d get home from work and pound down a six-pack in about an hour. I needed that quick hit of alcohol to get my blood alcohol content up to a manageable level. In other words, I was drinking like that just to feel “right.” Another 6 to 12 beers would hold me over the rest of the night.

Coroner’s Mental Vortex was a huge part of the holiday season for me that year. I got turned onto them because of their relationship with Celtic Frost, and even in my drunken, stuporous state, it got through to me. It was a daily ritual, getting a healthy buzz well on the way to getting drunk, taking a few hits off a brass pipe, and letting the music set in.

I’m not a Thrash Metal fan in any sense, and to this day I’m surprised that Coroner is lumped in with that. For me, a Metal album is truly great when it transcends any label or genre, and I think this one pulls that off. The guitar playing has a sinister precision that still blows my mind, the vocals are the perfect counterpoint to that. I think the only thing lacking is the bass in the mix, but the laid 80s/Early 90s have a bunch of classic metal where the bass is pretty anemic.

But who cares? When the riffs are this tight, the leads actually go somewhere, and the lyrics are perfect, some details don’t matter. I got into this album so much that year that I couldn’t listen to it for at least 20 years into my recovery. It’s only recently that I’ve been going back to this, reliving one of the only bright spots of a period devoid of anything remotely cool.

Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer

Aaah, yes. Year one of sobriety. The only thing that made that tolerable was how bad 1991 was. Seriously.

I was beginning that wonderful post-acute withdrawal period that so many people experience, but so few counselors or doctors know a damn thing about. It was an endless cycle of depression, panic attacks, confusion, and manic pink cloud overconfidence.

The song I was my anthem, a rallying cry of anger and attitude. Personally, I think it’s the best song that the Dio version of Black Sabbath ever recorded (I’m full of unpopular Black Sabbath opinions.) I’m quite certain I totally misinterpreted, and continued to misinterpret, the lyrics.

I am anger
Under pressure
Lost in cages, a prisoner
The first to escape
I am wicked
I am legion
Strength in numbers, a lie
The number is one
I, I, I
Everything that I see is for me
Yes, I am giant
I’m a monster
Breaking windows in houses
Buildings of glass
Rebel, rebel
Holy outlaw
Ride together, don’t try it
The power’s in one

-Ronnie James Dio / Tony Iommi / Terence Butler

Man, that’s just the perfect set of lyrics for a recovering addict to grab onto for hope, inspiration, and most of all: pissed-off determination. You probably have your own favorite songs of the season, but this one’s mine. But it confuses the shit out of my family and friends when I play it in between Mariah Carey and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Insomnium – Winter’s Gate

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING says “Hello, Winter” better than Winter’s Gate by Insomnium. From the haunting atmosphere of the extended, sustained intro to the solemn, mournful sound of the chilling wind at the very end, this is perfection.

Blast beats and blackened vocals aren’t my favorite thing in the world but, as I wrote earlier, when a metal album is this fucking good it transcends any label or genre. I’ll never understand why this isn’t considered Insomnium’s masterpiece, because I think it’s 40 minutes of perfection. The story alone is enough to make me listen to it every single year: A group of Vikings sale from the British Isles to a mythical island to the west, in search of fame and riches. Instead, they end up in a horrific storm and drown. If that’s not Doom, what is?

A few things about this album really get to me. First, the musicianship is absolutely stellar. I mean, good God, gentlemen. Bra-fucking-vo. Second is the relatable humanity of these greed crazed Vikings risking their lives in search of the unknown. Third, it’s one long 40 minute song. I absolutely love long songs that can hold your attention, and this one certainly does. I must admit though, I do need to have the lyrics to read along as the album progresses.

Want to know what this album really sounds like to me? It sounds like more. As in as soon as it ends I inevitably hit play and start again from the beginning.

Wrapping Up

What are your favorite albums this time of year? Let us know on Facebook and Instagram. Who knows, you might give me another album to listen to every single year…