Surprisingly, the disc gets off to a rather slow start. O Come, O Come Emmanuel, The First Noel, Silent Night and O Little Town Of Bethlehem all stick to piano-based melodies and rather traditional renditions of the classics musically. Kevin does allow his vocals to change up the tracks a little bit, though not massively so. The vocals are classic Kevin, but the tracks are pretty average offerings.
The disc does venture into different territories, however. The disc starts to kick into gear with the next two tracks, I Saw Three Ships and Greensleeves. I Saw Three Ships is a nice change from the normal Christmas tunes. Yes, it is a classic that can be heard every now and then, but it does not often get used on Christmas discs, especially not in the past five to ten years. The vocals are simple and so is the music, but, for Kevin, it seems to work. Greensleeves is similar to I Saw Three Ships in one aspect; both tracks are less than two minutes (I Saw Three Ships clocks in at 1:53, while Greensleeves is a mere 1:17). Greensleeves' quick timing leaves listeners begging for me. Anyone who saw Kevin do this track on The Supernatural Experience tour (Either live or on DVD) knows how great his rendition is. The studio version is a bit more laid back, with Kevin never going for the highest notes he hit on tour, but he still pulls it off in a great way and makes the track truly enjoyable. It could easily be the best track on the disc if it had been longer.
The rest of the disc finds a strong foothold that keeps the disc going. Away In A Manger is another track that sticks somewhat to the traditional version while Kevin changes up some of the vocals to give it his own personal touch. And O Holy Night, the title track (And the longest track on the disc at just over five minutes), is a definite highlight of the disc, while also bringing the biggest complaint of the disc. Kevin does a superb job of making this track his own and shows off his set of pipes. But the complaint comes in that he could have shown off those pipes on an even greater scale. Rather than hitting his last "divine" (Oh night, di-VINE) as a huge, bold, extremely high note (That listeners know Kevin, and few others, could have hit and hit strongly), he goes down like he does in the rest of the song. Yes, he changes up the first part of the word (Going a bit higher on "di" rather than on "vine"), but it's not nearly as high (or as long) as it would have been on the latter half of the word, and it honestly leaves a great track hanging a little bit. It is still arguably the best track on the disc, but even that one note would have left no doubt and would definitely have showed the world what amazing vocals Kevin can pull off.
Overall, Kevin keeps Holy Night on a surprisingly traditional level. There are no Eastern European influences of Stereotype Be, there's no '80s infused-rock or innovative sounds like those heard on The Imposter, it is just Kevin and a piano, for the most part. But it works pretty well. The disc starts out slow but does find a strong place to stand. And, aside from a few notes here or there that could have sent chills down the spine but instead left little resolution, Holy Night is one solid Christmas effort.