Most Christmas albums are a waste of digital recording space used to massacre classics (looking at you Bon Jovi) or awkwardly cash in by gruesomely sewing holiday trappings on otherwise standard band fare (I see you Erasure). Hearts of Animals has done what few other bands have managed to accomplish. They actually wrote a regular album that just happens to be about Christmas, and it is exactly the disaffected scream of despair to top of 2020.
Recorded remotely by the individual members over Zoom in August,
Merry Christmas Anyway is a potent combination of the band’s trademark pop punk pep and a healthy dose of “fuck this year.” It’s kind of like a Christmas cookie with powerful hallucinogens baked in. From start to finish it both celebrates the holiday while also fully acknowledging that this is the last gasp of a terrible year.