Single Slam – Naughty Christmas by Lacuna Coil

Italian metal band, Lacuna Coil, have got into the holiday spirit, well kind of, with the release of their very own take on a Christmas song. Rather than focus on Father Christmas, generosity and good will they instead have based their song on Krampus, the half goat, half demon who, in many old folklore tales, punishes the children who have misbehaved and find themselves on the dreaded naughty list.

At just 3 and a half minutes long, it starts jovial enough with a little Christmas jingle and, of course, some bells but they soon fade and a crunching bass line takes over. The song mixes the vocal styles up well utilising Andrea Ferro as the demonic Krampus growling lyrics such as “I’m on my way, naughty children be afraid”. That is mixed up with childlike na na na na na na strings and then a cleanly sung pre chorus and chorus from Cristina Scabbia. The pre chorus adds a bit more Christmas spirit by being sung to almost the same tune as Jingle Bells.

Cristina sings from the perspective of a worried child, scared Krampus is coming to get them, while Andrea sings from the perspective of Krampus confirming he is indeed coming for them. Musically, it is pretty standard stuff, nothing bad but nothing to write home about. Being a Christmas song, it would be a little unfair to judge it too harshly. There is a riff there, it is catchy enough, and from a Christmas perspective, it has plenty of bells and little sprinkling effects. The vocals are good and the mix of Andrea’s gruff vocals with Cristina’s clean singing works well and is probably the most enjoyable part of the song.

All in all, if it was judged on the normal rules here at GBHBL, it would be a very sub standard metal song but it is a Christmas song and should be judged accordingly so, with that in mind, it is an okay Christmas song. It is pretty cool to hear a Christmas song deal with Krampus, rather then Santa Claus,  and it is sung well. It has a catchy rhythm to it and plenty of festive touches with the jingle bells tune, lots of other bells and the childlike singing of the na na nas.

This is a Christmas song not meant for children, unless you want to give them nightmares about Krampus. Take it with a pinch of salt and you will probably enjoy it. It isn’t a serious, strong metal song packed full of riffs and beats but then it isn’t meant to be. It is a one off, Christmas song and it pulls that off reasonably well. An enjoyable listen but also a song I will be deleting from my collection rapidly around the 27th of December.

Check it out for yourself over at Loudwire.com and it is also available on all the normal streaming services such as Amazon Music and Apple Music.