The Decibel Geek Top Albums of 2014 - Staff Picks

Well fellow Decibel Geeks it's that time of year again and as 2014 draws to a close the staff here at Decibel Geek Podcast have compiled their list of the top ten best albums that this year has produced.  With our staff having grown by quite a bit throughout 2014, we were able to welcome new writers from around the globe to the team.  The weekly podcast reached new highs in the iTunes podcast charts, expanding the audience through exciting and informative weekly episodes and entertaining special guests such as John Corabi, Dick Wagner, Paul Taylor, Gary Corbett, Todzilla, Luc Carl, Mike Tramp, Chuck Garric, Killer Dwarfs, Wallygator & The Meister, Brighton Rock.......and more.

2014 saw a whopping amount of strong releases issued in every sub genre and with the varied tastes and interests of our staff you can imagine our top ten is quite widespread.  Each of the staff submitted their personal top ten (each of which appears below) and the bands were assigned points depending on where they ranked in that particular list (1 point for #10 and 10 points for #1).  The points were then tallied up to provide the collective top ten from all of us here at Decibel Geek Podcast.  While we might not always agree on these things one thing's for sure: we all love music and  due to some of my colleagues picks, I personally, have been inspired to revisit some albums that did not make the cut for me as well as explore some new ones and we hope that we can turn you onto some of the great efforts of 2014, if you haven't been already.

Please support these bands and all of your favorite bands to keep the music alive and flowing, by clicking on the included links to purchase.  With some already exciting releases on the horizon for 2015, don't forget to check out our "New Release" section updated regularly and follow Decibel Geek on Social Media: iTunes / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Instagram

DECIBEL GEEK PODCAST'S COLLECTIVE TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2014:

(Click on the blue album name for Amazon.com purchase link)

10) Tesla - Simplicity 18pts
9) KXM - KXM 19pts / Winger - Better Days Comin' 19pts
8) Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter 22pts
7) Rated X - Rated X 23pts
6) Ace Frehley - Space Invader 24pts
5) Vega - Stereo Messiah 25pts
4) Primal Fear - Delivering the Black 27pts
3) Slash - World on Fire 31pts
2) Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls 50pts
1) Accept - Blind Rage 52pts
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INDIVIDUAL STAFF'S TOP TEN PICKS:

Warren Money (Staff Writer...who was the first to submit his list)

10) Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (1 point)
9) Winger - Better Days Comin' (2 points)
8) Diamond Lane - Terrorizer (3 points)
7) Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter (4 points)
6) Billy Idol - Kings & Queens of the Underground (5 points)
5) Mr. Big - ...The Stories We Could Tell (6 points)
4) Sammy Hagar - Lite Roast (7 points)
3) Judas Priest -Redeemer of Souls (8 points)
2) Ace Frehley - Space Invader (9 points)
1) Sixx A.M. - Modern Vintage (10 points)
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Bakko (Staff Writer)

10) Ace Frehley - Space Invader (1) - 10pts

9) Godsmack - 1000hp (2)
8) Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (3) - 4pts
7) Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter (4) - 8pts
6) King Buzzo - This Machine Kills Artists (5)
5) Birds Of Satan - Birds of Satan (6)
4) American Dog - Neanderthal (7)
3) Orange Goblin - Back From the Abyss (8)
2) The Oddfathers - Double Live 45 (9)
1) Red Dragon Cartel - Red Dragon Cartel (10)
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Billy Hardaway (Staff Writer)

10) Winger - Better Days Comin' (1) - 3pts
9) Angels or Kings - Kings of Nowhere (2)
8) Lynch Mob - Sun Red Sun (3)
7) AC/DC - Rock or Bust (4)
6) Moonland - Moonland (5)
5) Tesla - Simplicity (6)
4) Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls (7) 15pts
3) Work of Art - Framework (8)
2) Slash - World on Fire (9)
1) Vega - Stereo Messiah (10)
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The Meister (Staff Writer....who changed a few of his about a 100 times)

10) Mortician - Shout For Heavy Metal (1)
9) Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls (2) 17pts
8) Ammotrack - Raise Your Hands (3)
7) House of Lords - Precious Metal (4)
6) Helix - Bastard of the Blues (5)
5) In Faith - There's A Storm Coming (6)
4) Battleaxe - Heavy Metal Sanctuary (7)
3) Accept - Blind Rage (8)
2) Sister Sin - Black Lotus (9)
1) Primal Fear - Delivering the Black (10)
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Derik Novak (Staff Writer & Twitter Guy....follow us: Twitter)

10) Rival Sons - Great Western Valkyrie (1)
9) Alice Cooper - Raise the Dead: Live From Wacken (2)
8) Crazy Lixx - Crazy Lixx (3)
7) Kix - Rock Your Face Off (4)
6) Red Zone Rider - Red Zone Rider (5)
5) Rated X - Rated X (6)
4) Krokus - Long Stick Goes Boom: Live From Da House of Rust (7)
3) Accept - Blind Rage (8) 16pts
2) Judas Priest -Redeemer of Souls  (9) 26pts
1) KXM - KXM (10)
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Andy Lafon (Staff Writer.....who can't follow simple directions and just had to go to 11!)

11) Sister Sin - Black Lotus (0pts...only need top ten albums)
10) Sinbreed - Shadows (1)
9) Sebastian Bach - Give 'Em Hell (2)
8) AC/DC - Rock or Bust  (3) 7pts
7) Overkill - White Devil Armory (4)
6) Tesla - Simplicity (5) 11pts
5) Night Ranger - High Road (6)
4) Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls (7) 33pts
3) House of Lords - Precious Metal (8) 12pts
2) Accept - Blind Rage (9) 25pts
1) Riot V - Unleash the Fury (10)
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                                                                       David Alpizar (Staff Writer)
10) Red Zone Rider - Red Zone Rider (1) 6pts
9) X-Drive - Get Your Rock On (2)
8) Night Ranger - High Road (3) 9pts
7) Whitesnake - Live in '84: Back to the Bone (4)
6) Kobra & The Lotus - High Priestess (5)
5) Ace Frehley - Space Invader (6) 16pts
4) Tesla - Simplicity (7) 18pts
3) Rated X - Rated X (8) 14pts
2) Mike Tramp - Museum (9)
1) Winger - Better Days Comin' (10) 13pts

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The Lionsheart (Staff Writer....who has a crystal ball and included a 2015 release!)

10) Nightmare - The Aftermath (1)
9) 220 Volt - Walking in Starlight (2)
8) Helix - Bastard of the Blues (3) 8pts
7) Axxis - Kingdom of the Night II: White Edition (4)
6) Brother Firetribe - Diamond in the Firepit (5)
5) China - We Are the Stars (6)
4) Primal Fear - Delivering the Black (7) 17pts
3) The Storyteller - Sacred Fire (0pts....2015 release!)
2) Magnum - Escape From the Shadow Garden (9)
1) Accept - Blind Rage (10) 35pts
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Metal Mike (The Instagram Guy....follow us: Instagram)

10) Sixx A.M. - Modern Vintage (1) 11pts
9) Down - Down IV: Part II (2)
8) Sebastian Bach - Give 'Em Hell (3) 5pts
7) Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls (4) 37pts
6) Lynch Mob - Sun Red Sun (5) 8pts
5) Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter (6) 14pts
4) Kyng - Burn the Serum (7)
3) Slash - World on Fire (8) 17pts
2) KXM - KXM (9) 19pts
1) Crobot - Something Supernatural (10)
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B.J. Kahuna (Staff Writer)

10) Cloud Nothings - Here & Nowhere Else (1)
9) Bob Mould - Beauty & Ruin (2)
8) The New Mendicants - Into the Lime (3)
7) Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World (4)
6) Accept - Blind Rage (5) 40pts
5) New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers (6)
4) Slash - World on Fire (7) 24pts
3) Steve Conte - NYC (8)
2) King Tuff - Black Moon Spell (9)
1) Heavy Tiger - Saigon Kiss (10)
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Kate Campbell (Staff Writer...who has gone back in time to include two 2013 releases!)

10) Devil Driver - Winter Kills (0pts....2013 release date)
9) Starset - Transmissions (2)
8) Lacuna Coil - Broken Crown Halo (3)
7) Islander - Violence & Destruction (4)
6) Ethan Brosh - Live the Dream (5)
5) Killer Dwarfs - Start @ One (0pts....2013 release date)
4) Linkin Park - The Hunting Party (7)
3) Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter (8) 22pts
2) New Medicine - Breaking the Model (9)
1) In This Moment - Black Widow (10)
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Brian Ronald (Staff Photographer....another wiseguy with a crystal ball and a 2015 release!)

10) Riot V - Unleash the Fury (1) 11pts
9) Kix - Rock Your Face Off (2) 6pts
8) Houston - Relaunch II (3)
7) DragonForce - Maximum Overload (4)
6) Silver - Idolized (0pts....2015 release) (I stand corrected-CD in      2015 / MP3 released in 2014)
5) Miss Behaviour - Double Agent (6)
4) Vega - Stereo Messiah (7) 17pts
3) Night By Night - NXN (8)
2) Seether - Isolate & Medicate (9)
1) Primal Fear - Delivering the Black (10) 27pts
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Wallygator (Staff Writer)

10) Kix - Rock Your Face Off (1) 7pts
9) Sebastian Bach - Give 'Em Hell (2) 7pts
8) Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls (3) 40pts
7) Sixx A.M. - Modern Vintage (4) 15pts
6) Helix - Bastard of the Blues (5) 13pts
5) Winger - Better Days Comin' (6) 19pts
4) Accept - Blind Rage (7) 47pts
3) Ace Frehley - Space Invader (8) 24pts
2) Steve Conte - NYC (9) 17pts
1) AC/DC - Rock or Bust (10) 17pts
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Brian Boyle (Staff Writer)

10) AC/DC - Rock or Bust (1) 18pts
9) Devilstrip - Rise (2)
8) Mr. Big - ...The Stories We Could Tell (3) 9pts
7) Black State Highway - Black State Highway (6)
6) Accept - Blind Rage (5) 52pts
5) Kix - Rock Your Face Off (6) 13pts
4) Slash - World on Fire (7) 31pts
3) Vega - Stereo Messiah (8) 25pts
2) Rated X - Rated X (9) 23pts
1) Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls (10) 50pts
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SOME OTHER TOP PICKS FROM OUR READER & LISTENERS:

Edguy - Space Police / Steel Panther - All You Can Eat / Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child / California Breed - California Breed / Sabaton - Heroes / Hammerfall - (R)Evolution / Headstones - One In the Chamber Music / Gotthard - Bang / Iced Earth - Plagues of Babylon / Bloodbound - Stormborn / Bigelf - Into the Maelstrom / At the Gates - At War With Reality / Machinehead - Bloodstone & Diamonds / Shaman's Harvest - Smokin' Hearts & Broken Guns / Cripper - Hyena \ Grave Digger - Return of the Reaper / High Spirits - You Are Here / Slough Feg - Digital Resistance / Drone - Drone / Schandmaul - Unendlich / Devin Townsend - Z2 / Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End / NEEDTOBREATHE - Rivers in the Wasteland / Opeth - Pale Communion / Gamma Ray - Empire of the Undead / Freedom Call - Beyond / Black Stone Cherry - Magic Mountain
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With the releases already announced for 2015, we say bring it on!  Check out some of the list: "New Release"
Cheers from all of us here at The Decibel Geek Podcast!

SIX DEGREES OF KISS: JUICE NEWTON

Chris Czynszak I accept your challenge and will connect Juice Newton to KISS in six steps or less.

Judy Kay "Juice" Newton is a five time Grammy winner and that is absolutely meaningless. How am I going to connect the queen of hearts to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. Juice Newton's 1981 album Juice, 1983 album Quiet Lies, 1984 album Can't Wait All Night and 1985 album Old Flame were all produced by Richard Landis.

2. Richard Landis also produced the second album by Canada's own Red Rider, an album called As Far As Siam that came out in 1981.

3. Red Rider are most famous for the song "Lunatic Fringe" from As Far As Siam and also singer Tom Cochrane had a big hit in 1991 with a horrible song called "Life is a Highway" but I also discovered that Red Rider's 1980 debut album Don't Fight It was produced by Michael James Jackson.

4. And Michael James Jackson produced the Creatures of the Night and Lick It Up albums for KISS.

And there you have it. KISSmas in July is complete. I hope you enjoyed Six Degrees of KISS. And for all of the challenges that I didn't get to, there are only 31 days in July! But I did get to some of them:

Melissa Manchester seemed difficult until I discovered that her 1975 album Melissa was produced by Vini Poncia. Waylon Jennings seemed difficult until I discovered he recorded a song called "Out Among The Stars" which was written by Adam Mitchell. Frank Sinatra recorded a duet with Liza Minelli, who was at one time managed by Gene Simmons. Little Feat's second album Sailin' Shoes was produced by Ted Templeman, that links us to Van Halen and Gene Simmons produced their 1976 demo. 

How am I going to connect the Pet Shop Boys to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. A power metal band called Gamma Ray recorded a cover version of the Pet Shop Boys song "It's a Sin." 

2. The main guy behind Gamma Ray is Kai Hansen who was originally in Helloween.

3. Helloween released a cover version of my personal favorite KISS song "I Stole Your Love." Helloween's version of the song appears on the 1995 "Sole Survivor" single.

Red Hot Chili Peppers was reasonably tough but luckily for me at on point a guy named D.H. Peligro played drums with the band and he was in Dead Kennedys. Faith No More released a cover version of the Dead Kennedys song "Let's Lynch The Landlord" and Faith No More were on the Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack with KISS. 

In the end it seems like almost anyone could be connected to KISS in six steps or less, even Kevin Bacon. 

I mean, look at the Footloose soundtrack. There's a Bonnie Tyler song, "Holding Out For a Hero," and Bonnie covered "Hide Your Heart." And what about "Almost Paradise?" That's Mike Reno from Loverboy and Ann Wilson from Heart. Mike Reno can be connected to KISS in multiple ways. Bruce Fairbairn produced the first three Loverboy albums and he also produced Sucko Circus. Also the guitar player from Loverboy Paul Dean recorded the song "Sword and Stone" for his 1989 solo album Hard Core and "Sword and Stone" was written by Paul Stanley, Desmond Child, and Bruce Kulick. As for Heart their 1985 self-titled comeback album was produced by Ron Nevison who produced Crazy Nights and that Heart album includes co-writes by Jim Vallance and Holly Knight. Two words for you Gene: Kiss Bacon.

SIX DEGREES OF KISS: BRETT FAVRE

AAron Camaro I accept your challenge and will connect Brett Favre to KISS in six steps or less.

Brett Favre's name if read phonetically should clearly be pronounced either Fov-Ree or Fov-Ray but for some reason it is pronounced "FARV" as if the V and R were inverted. Brett Favre set numerous NFL records including throwing for more than 700,000 yards, more than 500 touchdowns, more than 300 interceptions, and more than 6000 completions; and also for retiring 17 times. How am I going to connect Mr. Gooder Than Grits to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. Brett Favre has a surprise cameo in the Farrelly Brothers' 1998 smash hit comedy There's Something About Mary. 

2. Singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman also appears in There's Something About Mary performing original songs throughout the film which provide a sort of interstitial narrative.

3. Jonathan Richman was originally the frontman of a legendary Boston band called The Modern Lovers along with future Talking Head Jerry Harrison.

4. The first song on Jerry Harrison's 1990 solo album Walk On Water, a song called "Flying Under Radar," was co-written and co-produced by former Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter non-albino sideman Dan Hartman.

5. The guitar player in Dan Hartman's band for his 1978 album Instant Replay was a guy named Vincent Cusano.

6. A few years after working with Dan Hartman Vincent Cusano would become Vinnie Vincent, replacing Ace Frehley in KISS.

And there you have it.

SIX DEGREES OF KISS: THE BEATLES

David Haltom I accept your challenge and will connect The Beatles to KISS in six steps or less.

The Beatles were a rock band from Liverpool who had some success in the sixties. 

How will I connect the Fab Four to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. The lead guitar player in The Beatles was a bloke named George Harrison.

2. George Harrison had a number one hit in 1987 with his Jeff Lynne produced single "Got My Mind Set On You."

3. Weird Al Yankovic recorded a parody of "Got My Mind Set On You" called "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" for his 1988 album Even Worse.

4. Weird Al Yankovic's 1985 album Dare To Be Stupid was produced by Rick Derringer.

5. Rick Derringer contributed an uncredited guitar solo to "Exciter," the opening song from the 1983 KISS album Lick It Up.

And there you have it.

SIX DEGREES OF KISS: NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN

Timmy K. Kramp I accept your challenge and will connect Ned's Atomic Dustbin to KISS in six steps or less.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin were a British alternative rock band with two bass players. Their 1991 debut album God Fodder is well worth seeking out.

But how am I going to connect them to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. Ned's Atomic Dustbin's second album Are You Normal from 1992 was produced by Andy Wallace.

2. Andy Wallace also produced the 1992 breakthrough album for Henry Rollins' post-Black Flag combo Rollins Band called The End of Silence.

3. For a 1987 EP the Rollins Band covered the song "Do It" from the 1971 album Never Never Land by British heavy rock band Pink Fairies.

4. Twink, the drummer in Pink Fairies, had previously been in a psychedelic rock band called Tomorrow with future Yes guitarist Steve Howe.

5. After leaving Yes Steve Howe helped form the band Asia, whose first three albums were produced by Mike Stone.

6. Mike Stone engineered Peter Criss' KISS solo album, mixed Paul Stanley's KISS solo album, and also co-produced the 1979 debut album by New England with Paul Stanley.

And there you have it.