Various Artists
Ragnarok Juletide

Although it’s being marketed as a “various artists” release, Ragnarok Juletide is actually the English-language debut of Raskasta Joulua, a group of mostly Finnish metal musicians, including members of Nightwish and Sonata Arctica. They take this thing very seriously, too, and there’s a lot of extremely earnest Dio-style kicked-in-the-sugar-plums mock-operatics layered over the power chords, double-kick drumming, and symphonic arrangements. It’s kind of like Tenacious D doing Christmas songs, only it’s not supposed to be funny—which, of course, is exactly what makes it all so fucking hysterical.