10 Greatest Hard Rock Closing Tracks

The Final Pedal-to-the-Metal.

Metallica And Justice For All
Elektra

When musicians are crafting an album, most want to start the record off with a good punch. If you've got that initial hook to reel the listener in, you're halfway there to getting fans to pay attention to your album. However, the closing track is where you start to separate the real artists from just regular rock stars.

Once the listener has gone through an hour's worth of music, they need a good final track that will leave them feeling satisfied about the sonic trip they have just gone on. In the hard rock world, this is especially difficult given the musical style. Your final track has to either have a drastic shift at the end or be the most high-energy song out of the whole bunch.

The records showcased here are good examples of bands that use their album's end to leave the listener with a stunning impression. Whereas most hard rock bands tend to see a record as a stop gap in between live performances, these records show how to make that sonic exclamation point that ties all of the themes of your record into a tight digestible package.

10. Cygnus X1 - Rush

Over their 70's run, Rush were always fantastic at being an albums band. Even if the maximum capacity limited their albums to only a handful of tracks, this Canadian powerhouse made every single one of them count. While tracks like the instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" and the blues-rocker "Working Man" are also great closers, "Cygnus X-1" off of A Farewell to Kings is the one which leaves the biggest impression.

Across the track's 10-minute runtime, the band employs ethereal-sounding synth work in between hard rock thunder. Neil Peart's lyrics on this track detail the journey of a man out in space and his encounter with a black hole. As the track reaches its peak, the music grows more chaotic as the man starts getting pulled further and further into the black hole.

After Peart's fast fills and Alex Lifeson's guitars break into near-anarchy, the track fades away into an ominous synth and sound effects drone. You realize the man has been overtaken by the black hole, with the album leaving his fate uncertain. While a sequel song would show up on the band's next release Hemispheres, "Cygnus X-1" leaves the listener with an unsettling feeling which is musically masterful.

 
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