A late addition to 2005's crop of Christmas releases, Holy Night to some extent feels hastily thrown together. As produced by Andrew Prickett (Prayer Chain), it's generally Kevin Max crooning along to ethereal keyboard arrangements—lots of piano, the occasional vibraphone, and plenty of synth strings. Unfortunately, this makes some of the orchestrations sound cheap, but it's less noticeable when the arrangements are interesting and progressive, particularly the Russian folk feel of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and pleasant piano underscoring both jazzy ("God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen") and saloon ("It Came Upon a Midnight Clear") in style. Aside from a darker alt-pop take on "Joy to the World" and a Beatle-esque styled "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," the dc Talk alum appreciably refrains from overly contemporizing the classic carols, though he never quite achieves the seemingly intended ambience of Coldplay or Sigur Ros either. More effort would have made this project stronger, but it still makes a warm and ambient holiday release—provided that you're warm to Max's vocal ambience.

The Christmas Hope (Integrity)

In 2001, "The Christmas Shoes" single-handedly rekindled NewSong's career. Five years after their previous holiday album, the group hopes to touch listeners again, this time offering the trilogyofstories from NY Times best-selling author Donna VanLiere: their mega-hit, "The Christmas Blessing" (featuring Rachael Lampa), and the title track. Such concentrated schmaltz won't appeal to everyone, but NewSong more than makes up for it with the album's remainder. Ballads "The Song of Christmas" and "Bethlehem Calls" are among this year's stronger original songs, and even "Southbound Flight" sounds like it's a fifty-year-old jazz standard by Louie Armstrong or Dr. John. Producer Bernie Herms (Natalie Grant) helps NewSong have fun with an array of styles. Wild rockabilly in "Jingle Bell Rock" recalls the Brian Setzer Orchestra, a wonderfully buoyant version of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" feels like Chicago, and they even convincingly pull off gospel with Anointed in "Jesus What a Wonderful Child." It would seem NewSong is at their best when inspired by the music of Christmas.

Songs for Christmas (Asthmatic Kitty)