10 Greatest Closing Tracks In Metal

You can tell that Tool were on the verge of something great by the time they reached Aenima. After pulverizing their initial fans on their debut Undertow, this is the first record where we see the off-kilter complexity of these guys in full, as they throw the most ludicrous ideas out and actually make them make sense on songs like Forty Six and Two. There were new and interesting things popping up left and right, and yet they still found one more way to surprise us at the last track.

Opening with an excerpt from a Bill Hicks comedic bit, Third Eye slowly turns into one of the most enthralling performances these guys have ever laid down, as the groove sits somewhere between a stoner dirge and a harsh metal assault from one section to the next. Compared to the rest of the album up to this point, this was one of the first Tool songs that actually felt like an experience to listen to.

As the song ends with Maynard James Keenan yelling about prying open his added third eye, it feels like the walls of perception are being broken down inside your own head. Little did we know that this would just be the tip of the iceberg, with Tool going even further down the musical rabbit hole on the next record Lateralus. Tool were definitely in the process of becoming a phenomenal band, and Third Eye gives us a quick preview of the epic scope that was just around the corner.