"A collection of ethereal/gothic/industrial bands" is how the overline squib on this album describes its participants, as well as those who contributed to volume one in this series. The liner notes also tell us this 1999 effort exhibits "a lighter perspective" than the 1995 original. Ethereal is the best word for this CD; they go for the solemn, the spiritual and the antique, best examples being El Duende's "Gaudete, Gaudete," Siddal's "In the Bleak Midwinter" and The Machine in the Garden's "Coventry Carol." Rhea's Obsession does an Arab-folky "We Three Kings" and returns later in the album with the "Huron Indian Carol," which veers more toward the Deep Forest side of things. There is a modern sheen to these performances that comes mostly from being recorded mostly in 1999, except for Human Drama's "I Believe in Father Christmas," the ELP standard that appeared on Stuff This In Your Stocking nearly a decade earlier. I don't know what the Shaker song "Lord of the Dance" by Unto Ashes has to do with Christmas. The Cruxshadows do a Depeche Mode-sounding "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," and London After Midnight contribute an original "Christmas Song." Faith & Disease do "Silver and Gold" from the famous "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" special of 1964. Hanukkah alert goes to Sofia Run's version of "Nerotai Hazarurim (Little Candles)." There was a Vol. 3 in 2001, Excelsis 3: A Prelude, featuring nine songs by Lovespirals, Audra, Lowsunday, Frolic, Faith & Disease, Mirabilis, Unto Ashes, and two by Lynn Canfield. The same year, the first three were packaged in a box set. And in 2007, a single-disc compilation of all three, A Dark Noel, was released. All except the box set remain freshly available from Amazon, but the box is still for sale at a discount from Projekt's website. The company returned to the Christmas scene in 2012 with Ornaments, a double-disc set.
Excelsis Vol. 2: A Winter's Song, various artists (Projekt) 
"A collection of ethereal/gothic/industrial bands" is how the overline squib on this album describes its participants, as well as those who contributed to volume one in this series. The liner notes also tell us this 1999 effort exhibits "a lighter perspective" than the 1995 original. Ethereal is the best word for this CD; they go for the solemn, the spiritual and the antique, best examples being El Duende's "Gaudete, Gaudete," Siddal's "In the Bleak Midwinter" and The Machine in the Garden's "Coventry Carol." Rhea's Obsession does an Arab-folky "We Three Kings" and returns later in the album with the "Huron Indian Carol," which veers more toward the Deep Forest side of things. There is a modern sheen to these performances that comes mostly from being recorded mostly in 1999, except for Human Drama's "I Believe in Father Christmas," the ELP standard that appeared on Stuff This In Your Stocking nearly a decade earlier. I don't know what the Shaker song "Lord of the Dance" by Unto Ashes has to do with Christmas. The Cruxshadows do a Depeche Mode-sounding "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," and London After Midnight contribute an original "Christmas Song." Faith & Disease do "Silver and Gold" from the famous "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" special of 1964. Hanukkah alert goes to Sofia Run's version of "Nerotai Hazarurim (Little Candles)." There was a Vol. 3 in 2001, Excelsis 3: A Prelude, featuring nine songs by Lovespirals, Audra, Lowsunday, Frolic, Faith & Disease, Mirabilis, Unto Ashes, and two by Lynn Canfield. The same year, the first three were packaged in a box set. And in 2007, a single-disc compilation of all three, A Dark Noel, was released. All except the box set remain freshly available from Amazon, but the box is still for sale at a discount from Projekt's website. The company returned to the Christmas scene in 2012 with Ornaments, a double-disc set.
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