Favorite album closers?

After properly digesting UFO's Lights Out last week, and thinking about how awesome of an album closer "Love to Love" is, I was thinking about other truly excellent final songs.

I like when bands close out an album with a song that rivals the quality of the album opener, and just has that grand finale feeling to it.

One of the best, off the top of my head, is Thin Lizzy's "Emerald".

Iron Maiden's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is another I've always loved...but I also feel it's "easy" to end your record with a big, blown out epic.

Depending on the band's overall sound and direction on the album, sometimes I prefer drawn out epic closers and other times I prefer to have my eardrums sodomized one last time before the onslaught comes to an end.

These skullcrushers come to mind!

"Raining Blood" - Reign in Blood - Slayer
"Helpless" - Lightning to the Nations - Diamond Head
"As The Magma Mammoth Rises" - Deathhammer - Asphyx
"Hallowed By Thy Name" - The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
"Iron Maiden" - Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
"1916" - 1916 - Motorhead
"Fantasmic" - Wishmaster - Nightwish
"Sonic Reducer" - Feel the Fire - Overkill (not included on original release)
"Metal Crue" - Attero Dominatus - Sabaton
"Denim and Leather" - Denim and Leather - Saxon
"Machine Gun" - Wheels of Steel - Saxon
"Dallas 1PM" - Strong Arm of the Law - Saxon
"Where No Ghost is Holy" - The God That Never Was - Dismember
"Princess of the Dawn" - Restless and Wild - Accept
"Valhalla" - Follow the Blind - Blind Guardian

Led Zeppelin:
How Many More Times (from 1)
Bring It On Home (from 2)
When The Levee Breaks (from 4)
The Ocean (from Houses Of The Holy)
Tea For One (from Presence)

Black Sabbath:
The Warning (from Black Sabbath)
Faeries Wear Boots (from Paranoid)
Into The Void (from Master Of Reality)
Spiral Architect (from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath)
Lonely Is The Word (from Heaven And Hell)

Rush:
Working Man (from Rush)
In The End (from Fly By Night)
Something For Nothing (from 2112)
Cygnus X-1 (from A Farewell To Kings)
La Villa Stangiato (from Hemispheres)
Natural Science (from Permanent Waves)
Between The Wheels (from Grace Under Pressure)
The Garden (from Clockwork Angels)

Hallowed By Thy Name" - The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
"Battle Hymns of the Repulbic" - Soldiers Under Command - Stryper

a few good ones...
Dissident Aggressor - Sin After Sin - Judas Priest
Beyond the Cemetery - Tomb of the Mutilated - Cannibal Corpse
In Motion #2 - Mandylion - The Gathering
Rust in Peace... Polaris - Rust In Peace - Megadeth
Come to the Sabbath - Don't Break The Oath - Mercyful Fate
Hatework - Domination - Morbid Angel
This is not an Exit - Sound of White Noise - Anthrax

mc666 wrote:

a few good ones...
Dissident Aggressor - Sin After Sin - Judas Priest

"Sons of the Sea" - Dark At Dawn/s/t

Damage, Inc., Dyer's Eve, and The Call of Ktulu

"Day of the Rocker" - Twisted Sister/Under The Blade

"The Day of Total Armageddon Holocaust" - Horde/Hellig Usvart

"Living Dead" - Barren Cross/Atomic Arena

Stones - Moonlight Mile from Sticky Fingers
Keith Richards - It Means A lot from Talk is Cheap
Saint - The War is Over from Too LAte for Living
Bloodbound - On the Battlefield from Nosferatu
ZZ Top - Tush from Fandango!
Queensryche - Eyes of a Stranger from Operation:Mindcrime

Midnight Son - Barren Cross - Rattle Your Cage
Battle Hymn of the Republic - Stryper - Soldiers Under Command
Helpless - Firehouse - Firehouse
Rock N' Roll (Ain't Noise Pollution) - AC/DC - Back in Black
Blacksnake - Bloodgood - Bloodgood
Temple of Soul - Die Happy - Vol. II
Coma - Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion I

"The Philosopher" by Death (Individual Thought Patterns)
"Swim to the Moon" by Between the Buried and Me (The Great Misdirect)
"The Coming Curse" by Iced Earth (Something Wicked This Way Comes)
"Gravity" by A Perfect Circle (Thirteenth Step)
"Test" by Prong (Cleansing)
"Seasons in the Abyss" by Slayer (Seasons in the Abyss)
The last song of every Opeth album.

Savatage are pretty good at this.

Believe (Streets)
Alone You Breathe (Handful of Rain)
Not What You See (Dead Winter Dead)
The Hourglass (Wake of Magellan)
Back to a Reason (Poets & Madmen)

im more of an albums guy than a tracks guy, but ill try to find some that stand out to me

death metal - seven churches - possessed
the pillars of humanity - the pillars of humanity - the crucified
trivializing the momentous, complicating the obvious - acoustic archives - tourniquet
our wings are burning - elegant...and dying - virgin black
stellarvore - sworn to the dark - watain
entrückung - entrückung - wolfhetan
deny the disease of life - within the vacuum of infinity - arizmenda
infernal kommunion - apokalyptik revelationz - legionz ov hell
shadows of evil - shadows of evil - blasphemous creation
regret not this love - the glory of god - lo-ruhamah

Fear of the Dark - Iron Maiden (Fear of the Dark)
Devil's Child - Judas Priest (Screaming for Vengeance)

Wasp - The Great Misconceptions of Me
Queensryche - I Will Remember, Eyes, Someone Else, Roads, Anybody Listening?
Accept - Winter Dreams, Bound to Fail
UDO - Run for Cover, Faceless World
Running Wild - Calico Jack, Prisoner of our Time
Leatherwolf - Spirits in the Wind
Savatage - Thorazine Shuffle

Of more recent ones, Testament's Leave Me Forever (Formation of Damnation) and Iron Maiden's When the Wild Wind Blows (Final Frontier).

In Conclusion.....album closer on Last Decade Dead Century by Warrior Soul

Satan's Fall by Hirax

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

Queensryche - I Will Remember, Eyes, Someone Else, Roads, Anybody Listening?

I'd add spOOL to that list as well. For me that was the best song from Hear in the Now Frontier (although that's not necessarily that much of an accomplishment).

Dream Theater also have some pretty good album closers: Learning to Live, Trial of Tears, Space-Dye Vest, Finally Free, Octavarium

Giving this a shot:

Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name, To Tame A Land, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Thin Line Between Love & Hate, The Legacy, When The Wild Wind Blows
Barren Cross - Living Dead
Dream Theater - The Count of Tuscany
Queensryche - Roads To Madness, Eyes of a Stranger, Anyone Listening?
AC/DC - Night Prowler
Bride - Heroes
Def Leppard - Billy's Got A Gun
Fate's Warning - Nothing Left To Say
KISS - Do You Love Me, Makin' Love
Judas Priest - Heavy Duty/Defenders Of The Faith
Rage Against The Machine - Freedom
The Cure - End
Twisted Sister - You Can't Stop Rock And Roll, SMF
Trouble - The Skull

Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys,The Time Of The Oath,The Dark Ride
Metal Church - The Powers That Be
Vicious Rumors - Liquify,Oceans Of Rage

Damage Inc.

Moody album closers:

Officium Defunctorum
from Tourniquet's Psycho Surgery
The Omen
from Lääz Rockit's Annihilation Principle
Master of the Wind
from Manowar's The Triumph of Steel
Always There
from Towne Cryer's Death by Sin
Trail of Tears
from Halford's Crucible
Como Estais Amigos
from Iron Maiden's Virtual XI
Soliloguy / The Loneliest Place in the World
from Ten's self titled album
Call of the Wilderness
from Stratovarius' Fourth Dimension
Goodbye
from Stratovarius' Fright Night
Sola Christus
from Tourniquet's Vanishing Lessons
Antichrist I
from Saviour Machine's Legend Part I




Thrashy album closers:

Raining Blood
from Slayer's Reign in Blood
Beheaded
from Vengeance Rising's Human Sacrifice
Rebirth
from Possession's Eternally Haunt




Great heavy metal album closers:

The Reign
from Stryper's In God We Trust
More than a Man
from Stryper's To Hell with the Devil
Only the Good Die Young
from Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Battle Hymn
from Manowar's Battle Hymns
Blood of the Kings
from Manowar's Kings of Metal
My Last Words
from Megadeth's Peace Sells... But Who's Buying

Citanul wrote:

Savatage are pretty good at this.

Believe (Streets)
Alone You Breathe (Handful of Rain)
Not What You See (Dead Winter Dead)
The Hourglass (Wake of Magellan)
Back to a Reason (Poets & Madmen)

and I would add:

Sleep (Edge Of Thorns)
In The Dream (Power Of The Night)

Some non-Savatage (just a few, I will post more later):

Dream Theater-Space Dyed Vest
Pantera-Hollow
Helloween-Keeper Of The Seven Keys
Ozzy Osbourne-Road To Nowhere
Ozzy Osbourne-Shot In The Dark
Warrant-Sad Theresa
Dio-My Eyes
Dio-Shame On The Night
Iron Maiden-Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden-Hallowed By Thy Name
Iron Maiden-Mother Russia
Iron Maiden-Only The Good Die Young
Judas Priest-Cathedral Spires
Symphony X-The Oddyssey
Nightwish-Sleeping Sun (THE most beatiful song I've ever heard)
Bruce Dickinson-Tears Of The Dragon (one of my top songs EVER)
Avantasia-Journey To Arcadia
Avantasia-Lost In Space
Avantasia-The Edge
Vanishing Point-A Day Of Difference
King Diamond-Black Horsemen (LOVE the guitar solos on this one)

Come on guys, how did you miss this one?

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Also:

Ozzy Osbourne - Steal Away The Night

Judas Priest - Reckless (this wins because it's a great track on a HORRIBLE album)

Accept - Princess of the Dawn

Guns N Roses - Rocket Queen

This most recently comes to mind.

I always liked "The Call of Ktulu" as a kid.