It’s October, and you know what that means – your band’s favorite Christmas albums are being released. It seems to get earlier and earlier every year, I know.

So, Cheap Trick, an American rock band with a tendency of returning to the mainstream audience every few years, recently released their new Christmas album, aptly named “Christmas Christmas.” Originally, I thought that this was just another holiday album with little feeling that’s sole purpose was to rake in a few thousand dollars before the Christmas season (which it may still be — pretty much every artist cashes into this at some point), but now I feel otherwise.

The album is a pleasing collection of classic carols and some of Cheap Trick’s own original songs. The first track, entitled “Merry Christmas Darlings,” is an energy-filled number full of the “la-la-las” that are a characteristic of many Christmas ballads, with warming imagery. When I heard this, it surprised me – it was quite charming, especially for being presented with a heavy rock ‘n’ roll sound.

When I looked deeper into the album, I discovered some wonderful original gems and some pleasing renditions of holiday classics. Another one of my favorites is their “Silent Night” cover. I’ve always loved the original ”Silent Night” carol, and this rendition does it justice. It sounds quite nice being reformed into a more rock ‘n’ roll-ish tune, and the instrumentation somehow still sounds almost reverent and sticks with the Christmas-y sound nicely.

If there’s anything that really bothers me about the album, it’s that it’s a Christmas album. Yes, I know, that’s the exact point – that’s what it’s supposed to be. But most Christmas albums seem to be major cash grabs to me, and that still lingers with me. Nonetheless, this album still is surprisingly good and has a nice selection of both original songs and classic carols. I definitely recommend this album, and I’ll be listening to it the rest of October. Yes, this has broken my hatred of premature Christmas spirit. Well done, Cheap Trick. Well done