12 Best Closing Songs On Hard Rock Albums

Hard rock music has always been about the album experience. Though fans across the world flock to the big singles off of these records, you don't get the real taste of rock's power until you get to the hour-long juggernaut of music. With the amount of time people invest in their favorite records, you always want it to leave you with a good ending.

There are also many ways to do this. While many bands save the punchiest tracks for the finale, other bands have left their audience with a slower cut to bring everything to a smooth conclusion. Either way, the closing track always has to stand out as something more than just another track on the record. Love it or hate it, this is the song that will leave the final impression with the listener, so you have to put your all into it if you want to keep your audience coming back for more.

Much like the movie business is, most listeners can handle a bad opening, but a bad ending to an album is nearly unforgivable. However, many true masters of their craft have come to the forefront to give us some of the greatest final bows the rock world has ever seen.

If you're looking for a great rock album from the 90's, Pearl Jam's Ten pretty much checks every box. While this record is far from being the heaviest offering of the grunge period, not many other albums can boast such a strong lineup of riffs, from the warped funk of "Even Flow" to the emotional gut punch of "Black." Though the band's classics are all on here, "Release" is the moment where this band really starts to get interesting.

Originally thought up as a droning piece in the vein of Neil Young, Eddie Vedder takes the listener on an almost spiritual journey as he lays out his family troubles for everyone to hear. Vedder had made mention of his contentious relationship with his father on "Alive," but this song is where he's finally able to make peace with his past, as he desperately cries to be released from his shameful stigma.

The song was so powerful for the band to undertake that Vedder became an emotional wreck after playing the song for the first time, retreating into a corner shortly after the music faded. With just two chords in the entire song, this minimalist approach to this soulful cut is a masterful way to end an album full of emotionally bleak characters.