The Christmas album is now a staple in the modern artist's album repertoire. And if you are a veteran songwriter like Phil Wickham, you will likely even have a few in your arsenal. With two very good Christmas records already in his history, Wickham's Hallelujah! It's Christmas has a high bar to reach. And thankfully Hallelujah delivers on this good track record. With a slightly ambient tone overall, the album has a mystical feel that matches this most important of stories very well.

The opening "Here We Come a'Caroling" takes the familiar old English melody and washes it with an ambient bed of music and a slightly distorted vocal that actually lifts the familiar tune up...

There are certain lead singers in rock and roll whose voices are so distinctive that it can be hard to tell their solo material from their work with their respective bands; Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like Sting from The Police, Mick Jagger from The Rolling Stones and Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam come to mind. In the Christian music world, Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer and Chris Llewellyn from Rend Collective fit that mold as well. This familiarity is both a blessing and a curse as the old cliché goes. The blessing comes from having a built-in fan base that will likely give your solo work a spin, at least initially. The curse is that you will also be measured directly against your band's work for, likely, all time...

Convictions' latest album, The Fear of God, is a focused effort that highlights the band's ability to blend the raw emotion and technical prowess that is a must for any metalcore act. Since their inception in 2012, the Fremont, Ohio-based band has slowly-but-surely built a strong following in the heavy music scene. Known for their self-described genre of "Aggressive Worship," Convictions have consistently delivered music that is all at once spiritually intense and emotionally raw...