Dark Christmas, Tarja (Ear Music)

We've previously reviewed Christmas albums created from the goth point of view on here, but if you thought that was just a passing fancy, Tarja Turunen is revisiting the genre here for 2023. (It's not her first go-round; From Spirits and Ghosts (Score For a Dark Christmas) arrived in 2017.) From Finland, she came to international notice with the metal band Nightwish, and has had a busy solo career for almost two decades. You'll recognize her heavy roots in these performances, but there's lots of orchestra and choruses behind these songs, possibly presaging a Trans-Siberian Railroad kind of direction for her. Covers are mostly the order of the day, though the album's title song is an original. Nearly all these songs have arrangements with slow tempos and minor key reimaginings of major-key songs. See her version of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas," a great choice for playlists sprung upon unsuspecting listeners. "Angels We Have Heard On High" and "White Christmas" are exceptions, in that the major-key melodies survive in the gothified arrangements, but "First Noel," "Jingle Bells," "Frosty the Snowman," "O Holy Night," "Last Christmas," "Wonderful Christmastime," and "Jingle Bells" all stick to the script. The treatment reaches a kind of nadir with her version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which is almost preposterously lugubrious. Still, this is well done if not to everyone's tastes. Available across all formats.