Search - Duvall :: Oh Holly Night

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SirTheory | 12/04/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Josh Caterer was in the Smoking Popes before his conversion to Christianity. Duvall is the fruits of that. This is, I believe, the second full length from the band (among several eps).



I view Christmas releases from alternative rock bands with more than a hint of suspision. Almost all of them are slop-shod butcherings. They invarriably see it as thier mission to be a band recording a rock christmas cd (or track) instead of a rock band recording a christmas cd (or, again, track). They end just cranking the songs out, pushing the bounderies of speed and distortion. And heaven forbid they ever use more than three bar chords in a song!



So it's refereshing to hear a rock band do a Christmas cd where it sounds like they actually took time to arrange the song and record it to fit them AND the song. This isn't Duvall rock Christmas album, this is a Duvall Christmas album. And because Duvall is a rock band, the songs reflect that but don't dominate it.



The best song of the lot "Do You Hear What I Hear." It starts off with guitar and builds from there. There are echoes of different voices on the ends of the main lines (Do you hear what I hear, what i hear, what i hear) that are effective because they feature different vocalists.



The worst song of the lot kicks the cd off in the form of "Angels We Have Heard On High." The song it's self is rather bland, and Duvall's arrangement doesn't help it any. It is the song that most fails to do what I outlined above about not making a rock christmas song.



After that, though, the following three songs are fantastic and, indeed, the rest of the album i really good. I recommend it for those looking for a good Christmas album."