INDIE CHRISTMAS: MXMS - CAROL OF THE BELLS

When it comes to cover songs, some bands are just a natural fit for certain tracks. But if you told me that dark, dirge-y electropop group MXMS tried their hand at recording a Christmas cover song, I would have laughed at you, maybe scoffed, and probably bad-mouthed you on Twitter or something.

But! It’s not a lie! They’re totally part of We Are: The Guard Indie Christmas compilation, and they chose such a fitting, epic song for the holidays that it could very well be the best indie Christmas song of the whole bunch.

Listen to the incredibly moody “Carol of the Bells” by MXMS below and abandon all that Christmas cheer hype -- ‘cause with MXMS, even when it’s the holidays, it’ll still feel like Halloween.

MXMS - CAROL OF THE BELLS

Sure, “Carol of the Bells” has been cinematically covered by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but MXMS’ version of the classic holiday track is dark, morbid, and chills you to the bone. MXMS make caroling sound like a funeral rite. The synths pulse behind Ariel’s voice, and the track lurches forward like a title track for a Halloween movie.

“I hang from a tree like the son of god,” Ariel remarks with a dark undertone. The track crescendos into a bigger, scarier version of itself than when it started, and I promise you that MXMS will make you forget you’re supposed to be listening to an indie Christmas compilation.

No cute “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” kind of vibe here. But I wouldn’t want an indie holiday song from MXMS any other way, to be frank.