If you don’t know TSO, you’re in for a treat. But, if you’re already a fan of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, you already know how unique and special this group is.
Founded by manager-musician Paul O’Neill in 1996, this group was conceived of less as a band and more as a Rock Opera ensemble. O’Neill brought together Savatage vocalist Jon Oliva and guitarist Al Pitrelli, with keyboardist Robert Kinkel to form the framework of the group.
Since then, they’ve worked with hundreds of musicians and vocalists to produce their impressive body of work. With nine massive albums under their belts, this group continues to bring their Symphonic Metal sound to audiences around the world. So, let’s look at the Top 50 Trans Siberian Orchestra Songs in their fans’ eyes.
Top 50 Trans Siberian Orchestra Songs
1 Believe (2009)
Night Castle is the fifth Rock Opera created by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was put out in 2009 as a double album with a 60-page book included. “Believe” was a bonus track included in that album. However, it had its start as a Savatage song appearing on 1991’s Streets: A Rock Opera. This song features the husky vocals of Tim Hockenberry and a soaring guitar solo by Alex Skolnick, best known for his work with Testament.
This song starts slow and quiet but then builds into a strong Rock Ballad. It’s built around a strong beat and driving piano chords, and is a lot more stripped down than most anything that TSO normally does. That keeps this song raw and emotional.
Lyrics like, “Your childhood eyes were so intense – While bartering your innocence – For bits of string – The grown-up wings you needed” are powerful and help to bring a tear to even the driest of eyes.
2 Promises to Keep (1996)
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a group known primarily for Christmas-themed work. This time of year is so full of emotion and memory, it’s perfect fodder for their symphonic sound.
This next song comes from TSO’s first Christmas rock opera, Christmas Eve and Other Stories, released in 1996. “Promises to Keep” has a tune that reminds me of “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” and I don’t think that’s an accident at all. But it’s an original song.
It’s based around a melody of orchestra bells, piano, and strings. A children’s choir sings over top, singing of the promises that Christmas has to keep. This is a sweet song, tinged with a bit of melancholy. And it’s one of the greatest Trans Siberian Orchestra songs for the holiday season.
3 Old City Bar (1996)
The next in our Top 10 Trans Siberian Orchestra songs also comes from the same 1996 Christmas Rock Opera. It’s the stirring ballad “Old City Bar” from Christmas Eve and Other Stories, which we’ll soon see is where a lot of the band’s best work comes from. This song is slow and heartfelt, usually performed with just a vocalist over top of acoustic guitars.
What’s Christmassy about an old city bar?
It’s all part of the story of the Rock Opera. Furthermore, the whole thing takes place as a story told by an old man to a young man in a bar on Christmas Eve. And in this song, an event of Christmas charity is described.
It tells of a young boy coming into a bar and telling everyone there is a lost girl outside. The bartender decides to help her. He takes money from the cash register and calls a cab to bring her home. The message is clear – “Make this Christmas thing last – By helping a neighbor – Or even a stranger – To know who needs help, – You need only just ask.”
4 O’ Come All Ye Faithful/O’ Holy Night (1996)
Here’s another track from Christmas Eve and Other Stories. This time, the song is a sort of medley or mash-up of two well-known Christmas carols mixed with original orchestration from TSO. This is an instrumental track, so the focus is just on the combination of familiar melodies and how they’re mixed together.
This track drips with Christmas-ness…
It’s a swirling combination of keyboards, piano, and strings set over a solid Rock beat. And then, the guitar drives the whole thing along. The solo was originally written by Al Pitrelli, though it has been played by countless TSO leads in their live shows. This is one of the most loved parts of the Rock Opera and represents an angel flying over the earth and hearing church bells ringing.
5 Requiem (the Fifth) (2000)
Taking a step back from Christmas (just for now), our next top Trans Siberian Orchestra song is “Requiem (the Fifth).” This track comes from one of the band’s non-Christmas rock operas, Beethoven’s Last Night, which was released in 2000. This opera tells a complicated, fictional story of Beethoven making a deal with the devil to live on and complete his 10th symphony.
This Rock Opera is a mixture of interpretations of Beethoven’s work and other composers, and it’s expressed in “Requiem.” This is actually a combination of Mozart’s famous “Requiem in D minor,” an intense funeral mass, and Beethoven’s 5th symphony. You know, the famous “Duh-duh-duh-duuuuhhhhhs.”
The overall mood is intense here, and very Metal in tone. There are lyrics, just a few, and they’re in Latin. “Voca me benedictum/ Sana meam animam” which translates roughly to “Call me blessed – Heal my soul.”
6 Christmas Canon (1998)
Since Trans-Siberian Orchestra is the most Christmas-loving band ever, it should be no surprise that we’re back to a Christmas-themed song. Additionally, all the rest of their top songs are from their Christmas-inspired Rock Operas.
“Christmas Canon” isn’t a battlefield weapon! It’s a song based on one of the most recognizable songs in all of Classical music – Pachelbel’s Canon in D, now the most popular wedding march around.
But TSO spins it into a new Christmas carol…
Here you have the slow, plodding beat and the beautiful arpeggios. And they introduce a children’s choir singing about Christmas to make it fit into their second Christmas Rock Opera, The Christmas Attic. It’s a sweet and pure song that speaks to the faith children have in Christmas with lyrics like “This night we pray our lives will show – This dream he had – Each child still knows.”
7 Nutrocker (2009)
You’ve heard of “The Nutcracker.” Well, with the track “Nutrocker,” the Trans Siberian Orchestra reinterprets Tchaikovsky’s famous piece. But, for once, this isn’t a Christmas-inspired song written by TSO. It’s a Christmas-inspired song written by another group.
The song was first created as “Nut Rocker” by American group B. Bumble and the Stingers. They recorded the re-arrangement back in 1962, and it hit the charts. When TSO decided to re-make the song for 2009’s Night Castle, they made it bigger and more intense – essentially more Metal! But there’s still an element of boogie-woogie here that you can shake your stinger to.
8 A Mad Russian’s Christmas (1996)
We follow up the previous track with another great instrumental song from TSO. This is “A Mad Russian’s Christmas,” which hails from 1996’s Christmas Eve and Other Stories. But, like the previous song, this one also borrows from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. This time, it’s the melody from the beloved “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” mixed with the spirited and energetic Trepak (aka Russian Dance).
In the Rock Opera, an angel flies over Russia and decides to land in a small village. He asks what the villagers would desire for Christmas, and they reply, “world peace,” which is the inspiration for this song.
The song starts slow and calm, but quickly builds in intensity and power. The lead guitar screams over the full orchestra of strings, and powerful drumming drives the whole thing along perfectly. This is a real Metal Christmas masterpiece! And it gets the nod as one of the Trans Siberian Orchestra’s most popular songs.
9 Wizards in Winter (2004)
The last in the TSO Christmas rock opera trilogy is 2004’s The Lost Christmas Eve. And this opera features one of the most loved Trans Siberian Orchestra songs ever, “Wizards in Winter.” This song truly showcases what TSO is all about. It’s an intense, driven, hard-rocking Metal song.
In the story of the Rock Opera, an angel has just come to earth when he hears a street performer telling a story to a group of children. This story is about the Imperial Wizards Ball of Winter, and this is the inspiration for this song. It doesn’t reference any other famous Christmas carols or classical music, making it a unique TSO, and one of their finest at that!
10 Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 (1996)
The song that most hardcore TSO fans will state as their favorite is probably “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”. This track comes once again from their first Christmas Rock Opera, 1996’s Christmas Eve and Other Stories.
Although, to be perfectly honest…
This is a song that was created and recorded by Savatage in 1995. The TSO album version is the same as on the Savatage album. However, over the decades now of playing this song, it has become bigger and fuller and a lot more Trans-Siberian!
This song is a mix of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and “Carol of the Bells” (which comes from the Ukrainian spring folk song, “Shchedryk”).
It begins with a light cello version of the first carol before the thundering drums and bass come in. Then guitars, synths, and strings build the song into a swirling explosion of power. It grows and builds, while the guitars get into the highest registers and really wail. Best. Christmas. Song. Ever.
11Queen of the Winter Night (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
12Christmas Nights in Blue (2004) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
13Beethoven (1995) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
14Night Castle (2009) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
15The Mountain (2015) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
16The Ghosts of Christmas Eve (1996) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
17Midnight Christmas Eve (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
18First Snow (2004) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
19Night Enchanted (2004) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
20Mozart and Memories (1995) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
21Siberian Sleigh Ride (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
22Boughs of Holly (2004) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
23The March of the Kings/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (1996) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
24The Snow Came Down (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
25The Dreams of Candlelight (2012) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
26Good King Joy (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
27Wish Liszt (Toy Shop Madness) (1996) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
28This Christmas Day (2004) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
29Appalachian Snowfall (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
30An Angel Returned (2015) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
31Night Castle (2015) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
32The World That She Sees (2012) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
33The March of the Kings/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Reprise) (1996) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
34The Three Kings and I (What Really Happened) (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
35Carmina Burana (1995) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
36Sparks (2004) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
37Ornament (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
38A Star to Follow (2015) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
39Prince of Peace (2015) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
40Mad Russian’s Christmas (2012) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
41Not The Same (2015) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
42The Music Box (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
43Joy of Man’s Desiring/Angels We Have Heard on High (1996) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
44What Child is This? (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
45Different Wings (2015) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
46The Safest Way Into Tomorrow (2015) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
47Music Box Blues (1995) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
48Christmas Dreams (2012) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
49Night Castle (Reprise) (2009) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
50The Snow Came Down (O Come, All Ye Faithful Reprise) (1998) by Trans Siberian Orchestra
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Top 50 Trans Siberian Orchestra Songs of All Time – Final Thoughts
These 50 songs are the best Trans Siberian Orchestra songs to date. But the band continues on, so we might see some changes to the top ten in the future.
For now, this is a project that has grown from a Christmas-inspired Symphonic Metal act to a true orchestra. They’ve worked with hundreds of musicians, sold over 10 million albums, and played concerts for over 15 million people.
While they focused on the intense emotions of Christmas in their earlier work, TSO continues to write Rock Operas of all sorts. They blend Classical music and Metal for some of the most powerful songs you’ve ever heard. So, enjoy these great songs and get ready for spine-tingling fun.
Until next time, happy listening.
