This 2015 release is the award-winning Christian band's second collection of Christmas tunes, following 2005's The Christmas Sessions. They play in the modern rock style, and for this album they didn't stick strictly with religious-themed Christmas music, as so many acts in their genre do. In fact, their own original "Christmastime Again" is a bust-out '70s-style Chuck Berry-influenced rocker that alone is worth the whole album, and another original, "Hold On Christmas," is a more power-pop take on the holiday. The remaining original, "Our Lullaby," is a semi-acoustic stab at a lullaby for the baby Jesus. Among the other tunes, their "Holly Jolly Christmas" is an absolute swinging hoot, with a bit of "Jingle Bells" tagged in the middle just for fun. "Sleigh Ride" gets a pensive midtempo treatment, "Go Tell It On the Mountain" is done as country gospel, "Joy," as in "to the World," resembles a U2 outtake, and the collection is bookended with slow-tempo versions of "Newborn" ("O Little Town of Bethlehem") and "O Come O Come" (Emanuel). This is one you can play all the way through and enjoy. Their previous holiday album was 2005's The Christmas Sessions.
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