Me, I love a good finale to an album. Especially if it's epic, melodic, and better yet - lengthy. I think often times, a closing track can make or break an album.

Here's some of mine:
Slayer - "Raining Blood" (obligatory mention)
The Black Dahlia Murder - "I Will Return"
Cattle Decapitation - "Pacific Grim"
Infant Annihilator - "Blasphemian" (technically not the last track, but the last actual song)
Devourment - "Babykiller" (from Butcher the Weak
Aborted - "Endstille"
Bleeding Through - "Revenge I Seek"
Lorna Shore - "Flesh Coffin"

Kalmah's "Hollo" on Seventh Swamphony was a fantastic closer. A much better version of "Sacramentum" from 12 Gauge. They should do clean vocals a lot more.
Persuader's "Judas Immortal" off of When Eden Burns is one of my personal favorite Power Metal songs. The fucking outro is godlike.
Of course you can't forget epics like Equilibrium's "Mana" or Iced Earth's ultimate track "Dantes Inferno."

Hollo is the middle track. The actual closer for the album, The Trapper, is pretty great though.

Nevermore, "This Godless Endeavor"
Testament, "The Faill of Sippledome" (The Gathering)
Slayer, "Raining Blood"
Slayer, "Not of this God" ("World Painted Blood")
Aldious, "Deep" ("Deep Exceed")
Children of Bodom, "Hate Crew Death Roll" (love the music but the lyrics are BEYOND STUPID)

Oops.
"I love Kalmah, my favorite melo death band"
"Dont even know where the song is on the tracklist"
Kill me.

I have really hard time to imagine a song that can beat Fates Warning's Epitaph

As a side thought, what's everyone favorite way to end the final track on an album?

Fade out?
Slow dissolution?
Ominious power chord?
Abrupt unceremonious end?
Explosive final burst of double bass drum and guitar strumming?

Plus several more I haven't mentioned considering I only used death metal examples. I'm very curious from a songwriting perspective as to how these bands decide to end their albums. What drives the decision to use one method over another?

I don't know how common a practice this is, and this might sound weird, but I tend to treat all albums as one story even if the album isn't actually a concept album. Following that, a final track has to do one of two things to be a good closer in my book. It either has to definitively end the story with a kind of "we've said out piece" or a "we're leaving now" sort of feeling, or it has to pointedly leave the aftermath of the story open to your imagination. Combinations of the two are great but kinda rare for some reason. Simply ending an album without touching on either of those two closing techniques really frustrates me. Not that I can't enjoy those types of closers on their own merits, but I think that the whole album experience is somewhat lessened when the album just ends. As for songs:


Imperial Circus Dead Decadence's (say that 10 times fast) Uta is a really solid closer to a somewhat spotty album. It pretty much meets all three of your criteria. It's epic, and lengthy for sure. The melody part is less present but still there. The harsh vocals can be a little grating on first listen but I got around to enjoying them. I believe the album the song comes from is a concept album. I don't speak Japanese so I don't know what the story is about or how it ends, but musically it seems to be one of those rare combinations of a definitive end with an open to speculation aftermath.

Iron Maiden's Mother Russia is one of their severly underrated songs in my opinion. Probably because No Prayer for the Dying in general isn't very highly regarded. At any rate, I really enjoy the mysterious, ghostly atmosphere the song has. This one I'd say is purely on the open to speculation side of my criteria, on account of the aforementioned ghostly atmosphere.

Another underrated Maiden closer is When the Wild Wind Blows. Maiden's long songs are usually pretty awesome and WTWWB is one of my personal favorites. It's kinda mid-paced, which I usually don't like for Maiden, but this one works quite well. It's about a couple living through some sort of cold war (whether it's the actually cold war I don't know), and at the end they both commit suicide when they think they're about to get hit by a nuke. This one I'd say is a definitive end type of closer, cus, y'know, the characters are dead. I kinda wish it had been the closer on Brave New World instead of The Final Frontier because thematically it would fit in quite well with the "story" for Brave New World. Oh well.

Sympuls-e's Sunengine is one of the best closers I can think of, at least in so much as it is incredibly conducive to my internal concept-ifying of every album I listen to. It's an instrumental song so I get to write the ending myself. In my head it's about the crew of a small starship flying out of some crisis. The destruction of their solar system by the "Solarstorm" the album is named after I think. In the first section, which is a high energy and melodic metal section, they're flying all over the place, dodging asteroids and chunks of their broken planet trying to get to a safe spot to go to warp speed. In the following section, which is a calm strings section, the crew gets to that safe spot but loses engine power. They did their best but have calmly resigned themselves to death while they watch the solarstorm eat their planet alive. Then the music suddenly returns to metal. Engine power is back and the crew take their chance to fly out of there at warp speed. This part of the song is very fast and intense and in my mind paints a picture of the ship hurtling through space at incredible speeds. The final section is another calm strings section that I like to think is the crew dropping out of warp speed in some far off and uncharted corner of the galaxy. They're on their own now and and they have no home to go back to. How will they survive from here on out? Well, that's up to your imagination.

You absolutely cannot go wrong with the epic closer to Carnivore's debut s/t "World Wars III and IV". I've yet to hear another band paint a picture of a nuclear wasteland better.

i thought of dead congregation's debut, but really it's just a brilliant album as a whole - i guess the fake-end on the closer does elevate it with a more epic feel

also, close to a world below - i feel like it fits quite well with what tahu157 was saying in their first paragraph, regarding the "we've said our piece" part

Blind Guardian - 'Somewhere Far Beyond' come to mind.

I'm also a huge fan of Enslaved- 'Lightening' from Axioma Ethica Odini.

Queensryche - Eyes of a Stranger
Motorhead - 1916
Metallica - Damage Inc
Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name
W.A.S.P - The Great Misconceptions of Me
Megadeth - My Last Words
Danzig - Let It Be Captured
Candlemass - A Sorcerer's Pledge
Slayer - Raining Blood
Alice In Chains - Over Now
Accept - Winter Dreams
Crimson Glory - Lost Reflection
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Black Sabbath - The Writ
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Pantera - Hollow
Rainbow - A Light in the Black
Morbid Angel - God Of Emptiness
Mercyful Fate - Come to The Sabbath
King Diamond - Black Horsemen
And Last but not least

Bruce Dickinson - Tears of A Dragon

Omen - Hell's Gates
Manilla Road - Hour of the Dragon
Manilla Road - Death by the Hammer

Tracks that i think work really well as endings, in no particular order:
CoF - Haunted Shores
Watain - Stellavore
Doom:VS - Aeternus
Doom:VS - Threnode
Iron Maiden - Empire of the Clouds
Moonspell - Full Moon Madness
Mournful Congregation - The Monad of Creation
Summoning - Land of the Dead
Diabolical Masquerade - Haunted by Horror
Draconian - It grieves my hearth
Amon Amarth - ...And Soon The World Will Cease To Be
Setherial - Enemy of Creation

on a more recent note, i really loved:
Autokrator - Inquisitio-Denunciatio-Exceptio
Onda Makter - Om Allt Bara Tog Slut
Asphagor - The Cleansing

Megadeth - Ashes in Your Mouth (from Countdown to Extinction)
Closing a rather simplistic album compared to their technical predecessor, it's very welcome they finish off the album reminding who's boss of technical thrash (in 1992).

The ending on Eternal Darkness (Autumn) on Wintersun's The Forest Seasons is just perfect, wish that album ended like that

Not sure where it would fit in your categories, but I always loved how Iniquity finished of the Hidden Lore EP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST-gjJc ... 31qOb3Ppad

Starting around 4.14...it's like just variations of the main riff. Really nice.

Metallica - Damage Inc. is one of the most amazing ends to an album.

Ah! One more:

Riot - Buried Alive (Tell Tale Heart)

An amazing end to an amazing album. Epic song.

I particularly like these ones in your list. They bring their respective albums to a good close. I also agree with you that a lengthier last track is really attractive to me, although as long as it's good, it doesn't matter.

Some of mine that I like:

1349 - "Hellfire"
You're treated to 1349 having their stars align for this album, only for the final track to slay in ways you wouldn't have seen coming. It's repetitious and doesn't have the same insanity as the songs that preceded it, but it's a final opus that still fits their mold. Perfect closer.

Origin - "Antithesis"
It's everything they did in the album, but longer. The second half of the song is where the true genius is shown.

Continuum - "The Steppes to Ascension"
They play a brand of pretty irregular tech-death, but decided to ditch that for the last track and instead go for 9 minutes of a repeated loop that's not really everyone's brand of coffee but I quite liked it. I wonder what they'll do on their next album.

Oghre - "Kurinātājs"
The album was kind of leading to something like this, anyway, but when it happens you just know it's going to be amazing. Huge 10 minute closer to a great album. Like Continuum, the repetition may not be for everyone, but I think it works perfectly in context and rounds out a hell of an album.

Comatose Vigil - "Galleries of Coma"/Shape of Despair - "Night's Dew"
Ending both of these albums on instrumentals was a stroke of genius and I reckon they put the most poignant full stop on them both.

Plenty of space for great discussion here, so let's not waste it with meaningless lists.

Running Wild - 'Treasure Island'.

While Pile of Skulls is perhaps the most "bare-boned" of the Pirate era classics (not a bad thing, I'd say), this track is lush and melodious. It's one of Rolf's finest pieces of song craft; the narration is very well done and haunting (an unusual thing for a German band - whose narration (including RW's normal fare) tends to be a little goofy, although enjoyable), the riffing just goes from one strength to another, the leads are brilliantly melodic and have really catchy parts and it builds beautifully. Lyrically, too, it's not dry and dull but a really interesting literary interpretation, which is quite an impressive feat given the novel's storyline and the song's (relative!) brevity. Of course, 'Prisoner of Our Time', 'The Battle of Waterloo', 'Genesis', 'Heads or Tails' and 'Calico Jack' are all great closers, but this one stands out the most to me.

Manilla Road - 'The Books of Skelos'

Easily the best song on the album (which makes sense as it was recorded in the sessions for the mighty and superior, 'Out of the Abyss'), 'The Books of Skelos' acts as a summation of all that we've learnt thus far from Manilla Road in their first 10 years. It carries a reflective bent in its first half, as if they were looking back on all their prior conquests, the soloing recalls The Deluge in its 'flooding' nature (Mark was one of the best expressionists in music; if he wanted the sound of flooding, he'd just make his guitar sound like a tidal wave - ala Hendrix on 'Machine Gun'). Then we move on to the thrashier stuff; which is demonic, raging and has some of the Shark's most vicious vocals on it.

Manowar - 'Bridge of Death'

Faustian pact complete with one Ross the Boss's finest solos and Adams's most heartfelt vocals. Oh mighty SAY-TIN. Demaio's spoken word part is comedy gold, too.

Darkthrone - Quintessence

Nocturno Culto's finest hour as a vocalist as he drunkenly roars out the vocals. Such incredible power with the riff, too, and Varg's lyrics are just wonderful; true boasting Norse power. The riff was also used in a crappy Storm song at some point, but who cares? Listen to it in its true glory here.

Seasons In The Abyss, Revocate the Agitator, Killing Spree, Drifters, The Call of Ktulu, Afterlife (from Bolt Thrower's Warmaster), Primitive Future, and if bonus tracks count, Premature Autopsy.

Vektor - Recharging the Void comes to mind with all his glory.
Also, Lux Occulta - Upwards to Conquer Heaven it's a epic one. It's a epilogue of the first track about the war of the Dionysiac hordes against the kingdom of heaven in a epic and melodic Black Metal to conclude this fantastic álbum.

Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, the best climax for not one but two albums (bonus tracks don't count).

Black Sabbath - Under the Sun

For some reason it feels like a completion to the way the album starts...the first groaning note of 'Wheels' gives way to an almost releaved sounding jam.

Iron Maiden has always been good at closers in general and really excels at giving them a variety of different moods. "Iron Maiden" is a barn burner, "Drifters" is a bizarrely happy end to a rather distraughtly themed album, "Hallowed Be Thy Name" is contemplative and energetic, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Fear of the Dark" are just a few of their obligatory epics, and "Journeyman" is a smooth acoustic closer.

Pentagram's "Be Forewarned" also comes to mind as an effective closer. While the 70s version of the song is a psychedelic but speedy number, the version on their 93 album of the same slows it way the fuck down, allowing the ominous lyrics to really stand out. "Last Days Here" also does a good job of closing Show 'Em How on an appropriately somber note.

Also not the official way it's done but I have a version of Sabbath's Master of Reality (likely a bootleg) that has Solitude as the closer instead of Into the Void. I honestly prefer it that way.

Great choice here! The harmony part after the solo is one of the best things in the Megadeth catalog. Some of my favorite Metallica songs are the album closers. Dyer's Eve, Damage Inc, My Apocolypse, Spit Out the Bone, and special mention to Outlaw Torn and Fixxer, that close out Load and Reload on high notes.

Cynic with How Could I on Focus is a great closer. Hypocrisy, The Final Chapter is another favorite.

Both were mentioned already, but I'll second Vektor - Recharging the Void and King Diamond - Black Horsemen. I also think King Diamond - Twilight Symphony counts, even though there's an outro track after it. Concept albums work especially well if the final song is the best one.

Nightwish's Beauty of the Beast is so good, it mostly redeems the second half of Century Child. Otherwise I'd probably stop that album after song #5 or so and just consider it an EP. But BotB is exactly how a 10 minute closer should be done. I don't know if this is a widely held opinion among Nightwish listeners, but I think it's even better than Ghost Love Score.

Blut aus Nord - Procession of the Dead Clowns
Twilight - Beyond Light (Beautiful and Malignant)
Godflesh - Jesu (+hidden track)

October Rust: "That's it. That's all we have. I hope it wasn't too disappointing."

The number 1 for me:
Opeth - Blackwater Park

Incredible closer to one of my favourite records of all time. It reaches the peak of madness toward the end with the "we have all lost it now..." part. And the way it ends with Mikael proclaiming "The sun sets forever over Blackwater Park" is perfect to me.

I won't re-mention ones that have already been mentioned here, but:


Dream Theater - Finally Free
The Gaslight Anthem - The Backseat
Anathema - Internal Landscapes
Anathema - Violence
Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland
Hypocrisy - Sky's Falling Down
Mgła- Exercises In Futility VI
Thin Lizzy - Emerald

Oh my lord, there're so many! Not to say these are my favorite from each album, just that they're at least on of the best/an amazing way to go out! Gonna go metal and non metal... to name a handful:

Megadeth - Rust In Peace
KISS - Black Diamond
Judas Priest - Dissident Aggressor
Pretty much any Iron Maiden album
Ghost - Dues En Absentia
Don Henley - The Heart Of The Matter
Morbid Angel - Evil Spells
Evile - Armored Assault
Municipal Waste - Born To Party
Metallica - Dyers Eve
Simon & Garfunkel - I Am A Rock
Aerosmith - Pandora's Box
Cage The Elephant - Cigarette Daydreams
Overkill - Evil Never Dies

This is just a handful of them. And I didn't even bother diving into the more obscure stuff.

Severe Torture’s “Submerged in Grief” from Sworn Vengeance. It’s an instrumental, because nothing more can be said. The album is devastating, and now with that last song, they give you a couple minutes to pick up the pieces.

Lord Belial - Realm of a Thousand Burning Souls (Part 1) One of my favorite albums of all time and also fairly responsible for getting me really into black metal in the first place, along with Immortal...

Immortal - Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark) and Pure Holocaust
Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult - To Necromancy...
Behexen - Rituale Satanum
Pagan Hellfire - Funeral Fires Burn

Those are the most immediate ones that come to mind.

Immolation - Close to a World Below (one of the most epic death metal tracks ever and the perfect title track/closer)
Katatonia - Departer (incredible way to finish the album with such a personal track with a perfect guest appearance)
Nevermore - The Learning (the perfect ending to a massive album, beyond epic)
Slumber - A Wanderer's Star (taking the nostalgic death/doom agony to 11/10 after being at a perfect 10/10 the whole time)

Fear Factory - Timelessness - gives me shivers every single time
Machine Head - Descend The Shades Of Night
Iced Earth - A Question Of Heaven
Paradise Lost - Over The Madness
Solstafir - Djаkninn - a pure perfection!
Moonspell - Full Moon Madness
Amorphis - Summer's End

de mysteriis dom. sathanas by a mile, no doubt.

A few that come to mind:

Edguy - The Eternal Wayfarer
The best track Sammet has written in my opinion. The chorus is massive, the solo section / interlude is amazing and the song just nails that epic, expansive vibe it's going for.

Iron Maiden - The Thin Line Between Love & Hate
The chorus ("I will hope...") is my favourite Dickinson vocal line, and the instrumental section between the two "the thin line..." parts is incredible.

Cradle of Filth - Tortured Soul Asylum
Love the guitar tone on this album, and on this track in particular (that riff after "where Midian lies..." sounsd so twisted and the riff under "these visions struck like a furious fuck..." is devastating). Also the way Dani delivers the final passages of the song is brilliant ("Exhuming the moon through the bars in my room").

Tons of great songs already listed I won't relist them but I'd like to bring attention to Tomes of Acrimony by Suffocation. Not only is it a whirlwind of a song but I love how it loops back to the opening riff of the first track to end the album. Its a great riff and it brings the album full circle

Burzum -Dungeons Of Darkness from the first album. It's an ambiant track. First it's really calming but it get more and more oppressive toward the end.

Darkthrone -En As i Dype Skogen on transilvanian hunger. I really love the last notes on that track.

Windir - Journey to the End. It finished almost like an electronic track. Really dreamy.


Bathory - One Rode To Asa Bay. Really epic. I really like when he shouts: it's only just begun! It feels like the album will continue even after the end.


Immortal - A Perfect Vision of the Rising Northland.