Stocking caps off to Mercyme, the best selling Christian rock band, for making a solid Christmas rock record that ranks as one of the year's best holiday releases. The Christmas Sessions showcase Bart Millard's arching pipes and the band's ability to rock many of the traditional hymns and popular carols without excess or restraint. No mean feat. Even "Silent Night," here played as it were always a country-rocker (with Amy Grant singing harmony), is rendered with spirited reinvention, while the band's guitar-driven sound always seems to draw yet more from such classics as "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "It Came Upon The Midnight Clear." Although the entire group could be accused of being U2's poor American cousins (despite Millard not yet having achieved the global sainthood of Bono for his humanitarian work), no one is going to be disappointed if this record gets wrapped up with a cool bow and pretty paper, or stuffed in a long stocking hanging on the mantle. Highly recommended. --Martin Keller
