The latest CD by Trans-Siberian Orchestra continues a rich tradition of producing rock operas with a Christmas theme. The format has endeared them both to fans of hard edged progressive rock and progressive metal and two a wider audience looking for a contemporary musical holiday experience.  Many consider Trans-Siberian Orchestra a spin off of the progressive metal band Savatage, and certainly there is a lot of truth to this. Indeed the main players in this group are Savatage's producer and two members of the band, but this really is a separate entity. While Trans-Siberian Orchestra does utilize some of the crunchy metallic sounds and progressive rock oriented song constructions that are mainstays of Savatage, these are more a function of the principal songwriters' individual influences than anything else.

The Lost Christmas Eve represents the final installment in a trilogy of stories released as music CD's. The album combines vocals that at times border on operatic with both original music and traditional melodies. The result is a musical story that at times does a great job of calling to mind the spirit of Christmas. The thing is many times the hard rocking melodies and somewhat overblown production gets in the way of this really feeling like a "Christmas experience". For that reason, I'm inclined to believe that this would be a more consistent pleasure for the fans of creative and experimental heavy music than it would for the more mainstream fan. Still, there are times when it works quite well, and these segments of the disc would be a treat for pretty much anyone looking for a pleasant musical taste of the season. "Anno Domine" with its classic arrangement and vocal round would be one of these. I just think that the average listener might well find himself or herself sitting with the remote in hand to skip some of the less holiday oriented numbers.

The final tally on this one? For fans of progressive rock and progressive metal, this is probably a disc that you will enjoy quite a bit. However, for those looking for a solid Christmas musical experience to enhance your holiday season, this CD will be a bit less solid. Certainly if you program your CD player, or are prepared to skip around, there will be plenty here to please, but if you try to sit through the whole thing you might find yourself a bit lost.