How to finish off an album PROPERLY!

How many albums do you have that you listen to from start to finish that finish with an absolute ripper? Albums that leave you gagging for more because the last song was so dam extreme, so good, such a great finale? Well there's alot of classic albums that finish on a high, just consistent from start to finish, leaves you with a song that "rips your face off" as a common metal metaphor goes. I'm thinking of genius albums like Master of puppets by Metallica which finishes off with Damage inc., an absolutely ripping track that just doesn't let off till the final notes ( the only major gripe I have about the song is the 1 + min of dodgy uninteresting violining guitar notes as an intro... hmmm I see a future blog post. ) or A predator's portrait by Soilwork. These albums keep you interested till the very last second and when the album finishes your really up for putting another album on.

Now there are other albums which just end with a down beat calm slow song or even just filler. One band that regularly does this is Fear Factory where they finish absolutely ripping albums like Demanufacture with a song like A therapy for pain. As soon as the guitar starts doing the main riff you just know it isn't going to then start blitzing away like... well... the REST OF DEMANUFACTURE! A therapy for pain just doesn't go anywhere, the main riff pretty much plays throughout most of the song in some form or another which, when you consider it plays for over 6 minutes, just starts to get piss annoying ( Hohoho how clever am I? From Pisschrist to piss annoying!.... ok, not that clever, rather just coincidence. ). The vocals are the worst on the whole of Demanufacture (even though they are completely clean) with the long warbbling notes that feel purposely held back to attempt a creepier atmosphere. When you think the song is over after over 6 minutes (!!!) there is some weird keyboard sound effects going to play out, another few minutes! When A therapy for pain finally ends it clocks at the 9 minute mark. That's 6 minutes odd of funeral paced riff played nearly consistently and then 3 minutes odd of noise. By this time my brain is deactivated, dulled, numbed by this, Half the time I don't even noticed the album has finished because my attention would wander to anything else ( blog writting for example :) or just even day dreaming. You know you've lost people if they start day dreaming! ). I rarely sit and try listening to A therapy for pain because it's just one of those songs I could have mentioned in a past blog post Songs you just wanna skip RIGHT NOW! and with it being at the end of the album it's just far too easy and tempting to press the stop button.

Dragonforce are just plain mad with their hyperactive songs that just plough a way through your mind. All 3 of their albums have a ballad in them for some reason ( I don't know what it is with bands that on every album they do they put one track on it that is completely out of place from the rest of the tracks, usually ballads seems to be the most common type of these songs and Dragonforce are no exception. ). On the first two Dragonforce albums Valley of the damned and Sonic firestorm the ballads are in the middle of the albums but in Inhuman rampage it's at the end of damn album! When I first listened to Inhuman rampage I got through to track 7 The flame of youth (Yep, a rather dodgy song title but a good song) and was thinking Ahhh cool they've stuffed the ballad this time, surely they wouldn't stick one on the end of the album... ) but when track 8 Trail of broken hearts comes on and the piano voiced keyboards come in with the alternating chords and I just stop and think God damn it NOOO!!!. Just why do so many bands need these out of place songs in their albums? From then on I just could not be bother listening to the last track, I didn't bother skipping the ballads on Dragonforce's previous albums but on Inhuman rampage I cannot be bothered listening to the last track.

So my tip to you is DON'T END WITH A FOOKEEN BALLAD (or rather any weaker slow soporific song)! Your song will likely get skipped. Your album would not leave the listener craving more if you loose his attention before the end. If the listener doesn't automatically think OOooo... the album's just ended, better get some more tunes on then you might have failed to leave an impression on the listener. Just end with a brilliant song that doesn't tail off slowly or leave them with anything that leaves them high. Till next time cya later (See? No fannying around finishing this post. Just ends with Cya.).