As we wind down the year that was 2014, it's time for me to look back at some of my favorite albums of the year. This was an excellent year for rock and metal, no matter where your interests fall on the spectrum. We had '80s bands like Winger and Tesla release new albums. We had thrash mainstays Overkill and Exodus release new albums. We had two of the greatest bands of all-time--AC/DC and Judas Priest--release new albums. Those alone would have made for an amazing year in rock and metal music. But throw in Sister Sin, The Pretty Reckless, Slipknot, Lacuna Coil, Black label Society, Wovenwar, Sister Sin, KxM, Alter Bridge, Altitudes & Attitude, Marty Friedman, Michael Sweet, Sebastian Bach and a ton of others (those are just some of the ones I bought this year).
So, to recap--fantastic year in metal. And for the next two episodes, I'll be looking at ten videos from my favorite albums of the year. I'm not ranking them, and I'm not getting into the "best" albums of the year, because all of that stuff is subjective. My hope is that something on this list may lead folks to check out an album they didn't pick up this year. I just want to spread the love.
Without further ado, here's the first five:
The Pretty Reckless-Going to Hell
Black Label Society--My Dying Time
Exodus--Blood In, Blood Out
Judas Priest--Redeemer of Souls
KxM--Rescue Me
BONUS: Two of my favorite bass players of all time, Frank Bellow (Anthrax) and Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) put together a side project called Altitudes and Attitude earlier this year. They released a 3-song EP, and it's pretty fantastic. They recently they played a couple of songs live at Metal Masters 2014, and you can check that out below (they start around the 6:00 mark). there's some great cameos in here as well.
I'll be back in two weeks at 6:30PM EST on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) for another episode of Sunday Night Videos. You can also come back here to the blog for the episode notes, which will go up shortly after 8PM EST. You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos. Rock on!
