20/12/2012

Christopher Lee rocks Christmas - it's official

Christopher Lee, for my generation the embodiment of the vampire, has turned his hand to rock music. His hashed up versions of Silent Night and Little Drummer Boy are earning him legendary status with metal-heads as well as moviegoers.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/gVzOve8T39w[/youtube]

Unbeknownst to yours truly - and I'm a bit of a metal-head myself - this is Christopher Lee's second foray into the genre. With a third planned for early next year.

Christopher Lee is definitely not dead


Now I don't know whether I'm getting old or confused, but I thought the old bastard was dead. It must be all of those times seeing his Dracula have its head cut off or heart staked that's confuddling me.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that this is some old fuddy-duddy trying to prove that he's still got it. But no. Christopher Lee has got a veritable CV in rock.  What's more, it stretches back almost four decades to 1973.  And he's won prestigious accolades for his more recent ventures into heavy metal.  I know.  Shit the bed!

The Whicker Man - in its own rite, one of the most lauded and original horror flicks of all time - actually featured Christopher Lee's voice on the soundtrack. This was more in the style of his tenor, a voice in which he is classically trained.

Again, his deep, booming voice was called into action for the band, Rhapsody. But Christopher Lee's fascination with Heavy Metal only genuinely became sealed when he worked with Manowar, yet another renowned metal band.

"[Heavy Metal is] rather exciting" - Christopher Lee


It appears that his fascination may not go as far as thrash though, given the summary the actor gave to the BBC
...in terms of history of music, [Heavy Metal's] fairly recent, really. And if it’s properly done and you can understand the story and you can understand what the people are singing and you have the right bands and the right singers, I think it’s rather exciting.”

For the safety of my mortal soul, I'm not going to argue with the living image of Bram Stoker's Dracula. But I don't have to. At the 2012 Golden Gods ceremony, Christopher Lee's "Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross" album was awarded Metal Hammer's Spirit of Metal award.

If you're still unconvinced, but don't want to wait until the sequel album (The Omens of Death) hits our shelves next year, snippets of the "surprisingly crushing" Christmas carols are available in the above video.

You can also buy Christopher Lee's full versions of the classic carols as MP3 singles on Amazon.co.uk, as well as the 2010 album:.

Or, if you're an Apple buff, they're also available on iTunes.

So will the old boy's The Omens of Death be a heavy metal classic when it's released next year? You can stake your life on it.




Have Your Say:

  • What do you think of Christopher Lee's "Christmas carols"?

  • Better as an: a) actor or b) metalhead?

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