Who says that metal can’t have some holiday spirit?
While loud guitars might be a bit daunting for carolers, it’s not impossible to turn some Christmas classics into heavy tunes if you have the right idea. Even better when you have a batshit insane idea to really go for it.
While Wham!’s holiday classic ‘Last Christmas’ might be iconic, it was definitely missing something, and that something is Metallica. Even though the song starts with those cheery synth notes in the beginning, you can hear the war footage of Metallica’s ‘One’ playing in the background as well.
Just when George Michael should be coming in, James Hetfield’s gruff voice works strangely well over the backing track. Although both of them may have been close to the same key, it does take your brain a minute to adjust to what’s going on.
As the track plays on, the rest of the band doesn’t sound too bad with Wham! either, especially when Kirk Hammett’s clean guitar solo kicks in and matches up with the synth lines.
Even though things should logically fall apart when ‘One’ hits that heavy outro section, James’ screams of ‘Darkness imprisoning me’ switch up the pace of everything pretty well.
Considering the pedigree here, it’s also pretty hilarious seeing these two songs come together. The Wham! song is a nice chill tune, but hearing James’ voice get more and more intense throughout the song is funny and adorable all at the same time.
While the holidays are known to be a festive time of year, this is your daily reminder that the Christmas spirit can kick some ass when it needs to.
This might have been a fun experiment, but this should happen much more often during the holiday season. Does it live up to the Angel of Death/Last Christmas mashup? We’ll let you decide.
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