Orlando duo Nordic Hamster dropped “The Battle For Christmas” on December 5th, their latest EP under Indian River Music Company. The band started years back as an instrumental guitar project before evolving into what it is now, with Cody Nordine on vocals and Cody Hamilton on guitar. Lifelong friends, full-time dads, part-time riff machines. Nordic Hamster’s been around the scene long enough to build a reputation for mixing progressive metal, djent, and deathcore elements without losing their own voice. They’ve generated some buzz around the fact that they’re doing something different from the usual instrumental metal formula. A Christmas-themed progressive metal EP from these two was bound to be interesting.
I didn’t expect to hear some of the heaviest riffs I’ve heard all year in a Christmas-themed EP, but it is more than a welcome surprise; it’s a Christmas treat. I might even go as far as to say this is musical genius on display. There is a moment where distorted guitar harmonics are layered on top of Christmas bells ringing, and I knew right then that Cody Nordine and Cody Hamilton knew what they were doing and were having a lot of fun doing it.
I was fully invested in the narrative here as our Nordic Hamster hero takes on Krampus in The Battle for Christmas. If you’re not aware, Krampus is a half-goat demon that punishes naughty children on Christmas. The execution of such a story needs to be handled with care, and here it is the perfect combination of whimsy and seriousness. Haunting clean vocals foreboding the coming of Krampus and the earthshaking chorus growls “Krampus in my chimney” will leave you headbanging in fear as the horrible monster descends. As I mentioned before, the riffs are supremely heavy and catchy, and they will most likely be the reason these songs stay on my playlist long after Christmas.
Nordic Hamster‘s been carving out a distinct sound for a while now, and The Battle For Christmas leans into what makes them work. The concept is absurd enough to be fun but executed with enough skill to be taken seriously as progressive metal. For a holiday EP from a prog-metal duo, this hits way harder than it needs to.
