HardLore - The Best Album Closers of All Time

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Today we're talking about the closing tracks (last songs) on albums that we believe to be amongst the best of the best in hardcore, metal and punk. A lost art that used to be placed with the intention of being the ultimate last statement and definitive piece of a record, but is now used as the place to dump the song that gets the least streams. We are here today to celebrate this beautiful pastime by paying tribute to these epic sonic journeys that end some of our favorite records ever. Enjoy. Official playlist: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Y551rL9C0aXCyTus9lvj3?si=a5bbcaf65d9e44ef Apple - https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/hardlores-best-closing-tracks-of-all-time/pl.u-4JommaGtJ03DPrA YouTube Music - https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxwut3Z6TTiFHSCqTLoX_2RzLuVxDKPrU Join the HARDLORE PATREON to watch every single weekly episode early and ad-free, alongside exclusive monthly episodes: https://patreon.com/hardlorepod - Join the HARDLORE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/jA9rppggef Cool links: HardLore Official Website/HardLore Records store: https://hardlorepod.com Try AG1 at DrinkAG1.com/HARDLORE to receive a free 1-year supply of vitamin D and 5 travel packs of AG1. Get 15% off MADD VINTAGE with code HARDLORE15! https://maddvintage.com/ Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code HARDLORE at MANSCAPED.com! #ad #manscapedpod FOLLOW HARDLORE: INSTAGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/hardlorepod/ TWITTER | https://twitter.com/hardlorepod SPOTIFY | https://spoti.fi/3J1GIrp APPLE | https://apple.co/3IKBss2 FOLLOW COLIN: INSTAGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/colinyovng/ TWITTER | https://www.twitter.com/ColinYovng FOLLOW BO: INSTAGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/bosxe/ TWITTER | https://www.twitter.com/bosxe 00:00:00 - Start 00:00:30 - Episode Preview 00:01:29 - Hello Welcome 00:04:51 - Type O Negative - The Dream Is Dead 00:07:15 - Angel Dust - Set Me Up 00:08:42 - Poison Idea - Feel The Darkness 00:10:23 - Misfits - Braineaters 00:11:59 - Obituary - Turned Inside Out 00:13:40 - Down - Bury Me In Smoke 00:15:16 - Bolt Thrower - When Cannons Fade 00:17:22 - Converge - Jane Doe 00:18:25 - Agnostic Front - In Time 00:20:45 - Alkaline Trio - Crawl 00:21:53 - Celtic Frost - Necromantical Screams 00:23:33 - Alice in Chains - Would? 00:25:18 - Cro-Mags - Age of Quarrel 00:26:59 - Terror - Lowest of the Low 00:28:11 - Mighty Mighty Bosstones - 1-2-8 00:29:47 - Nails - Suum Cuique 00:31:38 - Irate - Transcendence 00:32:44 - 100 Demons - His Fathers Son 00:34:16 - Primus - The Heckler 00:36:19 - Youth of Today - Youth of Today 00:37:59 - Integrity - March of the Damned 00:39:37 - Madball - The World is Mine 00:41:06 - AFI - This Time Imperfect 00:44:12 - Bo's Pick... Must wait 00:44:33 - Metallica - The Struggle Within 00:46:11 - Leeway - Unexpected 00:47:36 - No Warning - Ill Blood 00:48:52 - Into Another - The Other 00:50:28 - Pardon This Interruption 00:54:11 - Carry On - Rethinking 00:56:06 - Minor Threat - Minor Threat 00:57:24 - Top 5's... 00:58:06 - Judge - Where it Went 00:59:24 - Dying Breed - God's Hate 01:00:49 - Cro-Mags - Sign of the Times 01:02:43 - Faith No More - Just A Man 01:04:38 - Type O Negative - Gravitational Constant 01:06:13 - Carnivore - World Wars III & IV 01:07:40 - Bo Doesn't Understand the Assignment Again 01:09:52 - Candlemass - A Sorcerer's Pledge 01:11:53 - Only Living Witness - December 01:14:05 - Slayer - Raining Blood 01:17:35 - Honorable Mentions 01:18:24 - Belgium   HardLore: A Knotfest Series, Fueled by Monster Energy Edited by Steven Grise • Title sequence by Nicholas Marzluf Join the HARDLORE PATREON to watch every single weekly episode early and ad-free, alongside exclusive monthly episodes. Join the HARDLORE DISCORD for community discussions and to participate in our future Q&A episodes. FOLLOW HARDLORE: INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, SPOTIFY, APPLE FOLLOW COLIN: INSTAGRAM FOLLOW BO: INSTAGRAM, TWITTER   For sponsorship opportunities, email us! [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LA girl, take two. My next pick is one of the hardest bands of all time. Those who know, no, those who don't may just turn this whole thing off. The band is Primus. The song is The Heckler. I want to like Primus because I like a musician's band. Everything I show you, you like. You're not wrong.

But then what happens is I'll see like the album art or something. And I just like, it's like smelling salts. But it's just a matter of opinion. Hello, welcome. It's Hardlord Time. How are you, Bo? I'm doing well. I'm over a sickness.

How are you, Colin? Fantastic. Just went to Belgium, had the best time. Yeah, can we hear about that a little bit? I'd like to hear. Maybe at the end. Let's wait to the end. All right, that makes sense.

So that the stragglers who find this... Yes, yes, yes. Who are just doing music research aren't burdened with European trivia. What the hell? This is a special day on the show. We, you know, we are connoisseurs of album structure. We're album guys. We're not song guys.

We're not playlist guys. We respect the structure given to us by the artist. And a lost art amongst that is the album closer. Which is, of course, I believe, due to Spotify, due to playlists and due to top 10 songs, or whatever. It just happens. Streaming has killed the experience of music, the music listening experience being personal, you know? The experience of buying a CD or buying a record,

taking it home and taking it in. Yeah. And the last, the closer is supposed to be your final impression of this record. It's supposed to be what makes you go, fuck, I got to listen to that again. Exactly. And you know what's so funny is I looked on Spotify artists. just went through all of our records.

The last track, always the fewest place. At least by far. By far. When originally, like, a lot of these songs in my list are hits. Yeah. Yeah. And you don't think of them as closers, but the artist did because they thought, this is our banger.

We got to put this at the end. Yeah. They make them wait for it. This is the payoff. And like I was saying, it's so funny, so many of these are some of my favorite songs by these artists. and they're the last song on the record. You are going to be, in my top five, it is shocking how much I've taken from these closing tracks.

I wonder how many matches we're going to have on this. I think we're going to have quite a few. I think so, too. The concept of burying a song in the track listing was not a thing. You know, where now I see a man put out of record and I hear the best song at like track nine and I'm like, what are they doing? Yeah, right. When in reality, they're respecting the nuance of a full trackless being good. I do think the opening track and then track two are probably the most important things.

Best song has to be track two. You know, that's kind of how... Most epic song has to be the closer. There you go. Perfect. The grand opus, the ultimate like exclamation point on the record, the thing that goes, this is who we are. This is why you bought this. I hope you buy the next one too.

So let's just start this off of the bank. Okay. Let's clarify what were the genre and how we're the adjacent. Per usual, this is hardcore metal punk oriented. And we're doing 15 picks and then a top five each. Yes. So 15 in no particular order. And then a top five.

Yes. Perfect. So to start off my 15. Yes. Obviously, somewhere in here there had to be a song by my favorite band, you know? Yeah. Band is typo negative. A lot of great closers.

Oh, quick question. Hit me. Because you're surprising me already. Are you repeating artists? No. Each artist is only in here one time. Typo's not in your top five? No.

Amazing. All right. Go proceed. I did the same thing, by the way, no repeats. No repeats. Obviously, like, there's a lot of easy picks here. Gravity. is my favorite type of song probably,

you know, when you really peel it back. Haunted, insane song. All Hollow's E. Incredible track. But the one I think of as a definitive closer, where I think they wrote this thinking, this is the album closer, because it was intended to be their final song.

Off of Life is Killing Me. The song is The Dream is Dead. Wow. It's literally, Probably heard it twice in my life. Oh, and it's like the ultimate proclamation of like, fuck this. Yeah. We're done.

Yeah. The dream is dead. Peace out. Wow. I'm going to jail. Yeah. That unbelievable track. I think it is their best closer.

Interesting. Off of an overall underrated record. A very underrated record. It's a tough record to get through. Just because there's a couple silly. moments, but I think I don't know. I think it's the B

side. Yeah, it's stronger. Is unreal. I agree. I agree. So that's my first pick. Love it. Great. The gates just dropped and you're fucking. Listen,

this is, all 20 of these picks are pure fucking heat to me. Yeah. And I had to cut some things that I was absolutely devastated about. So maybe I'll talk about those later. In the context of this list, how do we feel about Oasis? Neither hardcore, no matter, no punk. So it's so good.

I made a just in case. Yeah, I wouldn't. I wouldn't get that. That's straight up rock and roll. That's, yeah, it's, okay. Which I didn't put any. Okay. My first one, and it's something that came to mind really, really quickly, is the closer on Angel Dust's second record, set me up.

Set me up. I fucking, dude, that is an earworm. and I love the Like the way it repeats, the riff is really cool. And it's only other people singing Other than like a few lines in the chorus or something. Yeah, I don't think.

Oh. Yeah, exactly. Dude, and those O's kind of sounded misfitsy to me at the first time I heard. It's misfits Ramones. Yeah, very much. Bad brains. That's OG Angel does.

One of the singers does the, she does the last like verse where it's like, like, how good you set me up, you let me down. She like holds on down. I just think it's really cool. And I remember when I first listened to that record that that was, that was the punctuation on, on that band that I needed at the time to get the first record. And it made me like, okay, I get it.

I got it. Like this band rocks. I was a day one, Angel Dust's head. Their first tour was with us. I remember you were an orange record guy. Oh, yeah, the yellow one. Yellow, sorry. Love it to this day.

probably my favorite one still, but I do think that's a band that has evolved in a very cool, unique, creative way, and I always look forward to their next thing. My next pick. The band is Poison Idea. Founded in 1980,

and let this be an inspiration to us all. Founded in 1980, wrote their definitive record to me 10 years later. 10 years into a being band, they wrote Field of Darkness. Yeah. That's actually, I did not know that.

That's crazy. And on Feel the Darkness. They did one of my favorite things. Title track, closing track. The song is Feel the Darkness from the album, Feel the Darkness. My God. The chorus is so minimal compared to a lot of the rest of the record. And the whole thing does feel like a big fuck you.

And it also feels like, yeah, turn this fucking record back on, bitch. We did it. This is an all-time band That I think should be required listening in the way that things like bad brains and the Cromag's are to people So that's you know that I take this this is my job. This is my cross to bear I'm gonna be the guy to Yeah, maybe make poison idea as definitive as bad brains and cromax Maybe this is the year we start really pushing like we don't talk about poison idea very much You know, I try I know, I know I know

you know what else who else we don't talk about enough is antidote thou shall not kill unbelievable record that's just like another band that I know is so important that we don't talk about enough

great pitch I mean that's a landmark record yeah and we like frankly I don't think we really ever talk about it's great that's true my next pick and I had to do one is by our favorite band

the misfits oh and I went with brain eaters Oh man, yeah I thought about Brain Eaters or Halloween 2 But ultimately decided against it Halloween 2 definitely a more ambitious Cooler song

But I think As a closer Yeah I mean as anything Honestly it might be the craziest Misfit song truthfully Like it's so wild And conceptually insane But Brain Eaters dude

The official video Official video The only music video It's like 48 seconds long It's an oi song Yeah It's hilarious. It's

three chords, the whole song. Somehow an underrated like, Boron unknown track to the gen pop, you know? Fully agree.

And you know what's weird is I've seen them play Walk Among Us. They never played brain eaters. Never, never seen them play that song. Mizar. Kind of weird.

Love it. I just think it's such a funny, put fucking brain eaters on there. Like, that's the last song. Such a funny one. And I don't think there's any other recordings. It's a lot like putting ratfink on collection, too, you know? Oh, my God.

Yeah. Except Brain Eaters is infinitely cooler. Oh, yeah, the best. I think Brain Eaters might only have one recording also, which is kind of rare. Which is borderline impossible. You know? So that's... One in tune-based track ever, you know? Amazing.

Yeah. Unprecedented. Great pick. Thank you. My next pick is one of those bangers that you can't believe is a closer. Okay. Arguably, this band's best song to this day. Certainly their hardest song. Their most iconic song to me.

The band is obituary. The album is Cause of Death. The closing song is turned inside out. Is it really? Yes. That's track four to me. It's like that's an opener. That's a track two.

That's the album. That's the song you hang your hat on. And they said, this is what we want people to remember us by at the end of this record. That's what music should be all about. That's amazing. I had no idea that was the last song. Just close on a sick note.

God damn it. Dude, the rest into the slowdown riff. And when the drums are doing all times, oh, man. That's iconic shit. That's the thing that they're most known for at this point. Right. And in today's day and age, it would be ignored or forgotten.

I have watched the live video from Masquerade Atlanta a thousand times. It is arguably the best live video of any band ever. To the point where there's a part during the driving part after the thing I was just describing where the snare is like, it's like super loud. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Like I know when I don't hear it on the real song, it bothers me. Yeah. Give me the proto snare bomb back.

Put it back. Great pick. I had no idea that was the last track. It's up. Oh, you ready for this one? I am. This is the closing... This episode rocks.

Yeah, it's already so sick. This playlist is going to go. Oh, this is crazy, yeah. This is this band's first song they ever wrote. Super Group of the Ages. On the record, Nola by the band Down, The last song is Barry Me and Smoke. Oh, my God.

First riff they wrote was the opening riff. That's insane. And I listen to this whole thing while looking at songs to pick. And I put that on. And I even, I normally hate the like fade out, fade back game thing. I love it on that. Oh, it's genius. Where it's like, nah, give it to them again.

Give it to them one more time. They're going to love this one. Dude. Holy shit, dude. Just make, just like, and you know who does do this a lot now is major pop artists. Yeah. We'll launch a single for a new album. Yeah.

And put it at the end because it's like, this is already a hit. It's already massive. It has millions of streams, millions of views. Fascinating. Put it at the end. This is Barryman Smoke. Yeah. I'm like, don't worry, guys.

We're going to play this one. We're a super group. Everyone's going to hear it. Yeah. Let them get to it. Yeah, get to it. I'm, you know, I'm sure it's, if it's not their closer, it's the first encore song. You know, like, I'm sure they always play it. I don't know.

It's an incredible song. It's so heavy. Unbelievable. Yeah. Wow, what a pick. Thank you. You ready for this one? I really am.

This is, canonically, not including bonus tracks and whatever, the last bolt thrower song. Ah. From the album, Those Once Loyal,

when cannons fade. No vocals. No, there's plenty of vocals. Isn't it instrumental? No, no. That's, there's a bonus track that, people think is a closer.

When Canon's Fade is the real. That's the real closer. It is in canon, the final official bolt thrower song. And they went out on the perfect note. It's the perfect stamp on this incredibly melodic, ambitious, perfect piece of music that really encompasses their whole discography. That record is perfect. That closer is perfect. The title alone, based on like the theme of the band is perfect.

It's like, all right, well, now we're done. We're at rest. And they were. The war's over. It's over. You know? The boys are going home. That was one of the first records I looked at.

And my mistake, I thought it was a instrumental song. And I just... Most people, there's 10 songs on the like streaming versions. I see. But that has a CD. exclusive bonus track on it. A lot of, that's the other thing

that's wrong with streaming. It's like, you're hearing the deluxe remastered remix versions instead of the original visions of these things. You're not getting the true sequence,

original sequence versions. You know whose discography is like a nightmare for that too? And I mean this with all respect, integrity. There's so many new releases. There's a lot of versions of things. I just want the one,

you know, and to the point where I couldn't find I don't have an integrity song on this list. Oh, I do. I'm glad you do, because I couldn't pick one. All right, my next one again, this is in no particular order. By one of our favorite bands of all time, Converge title track for the groundbreaking record, Jane Doe. New I didn't need it on mine because you had me covered. Big 11, almost 11 minute opus.

Yeah. Just, and it's like grueling. That record, the dynamics in like tempos and speeds and vibe on that record are really like break my brain. And obviously, we all know this. We've all listened to this record. Yeah, it's one in a million. It's one in a billion, really.

And like the fact that they play this live ever is insane. And that it's as good as it is. They're in a league of their own. A literal league of their own. Yeah. Star and Tom Hanks. That's right. But yeah.

And converge. And converge. Just an easy, easy pick where it was like, oh, that's going on. That was one of the quicker ones for me. Yeah. Totally. Great pick. My next pick. It's insane how

how pioneers of genres can get it so fast, you know? How they come out of the gate understanding music better than I think even they think, know that they do. Okay. The band is agnostic front. What are they got?

The album Victim in Pain contains, is, you know, it's blistering fast a lot of the time. He's singing 100 miles an hour. Iconic track after iconic track after iconic track, but they end with this dramatic mid-tempo kind of closer with time. One of the best songs they ever wrote is the last song on this probably 15-minute, all-time, hardcore classic.

How many times have you seen that covered, you know? I know exactly what you mean. We're going to talk about covers in a second. But yeah, AF was, I was looking for a song. And I'm glad you put one on here. So far I'm very satisfied with the diversity in our lists. Yeah, me too. I thought they were going to be identical.

Me as well. I mean, The Godfathers of hardcore on their debut LP make one of the best hardcore songs of all time and put it at the end. That's what this whole thing is all about. And I would love to know, I want to ask each songwriter on this list, like, why last? You know, like, what was? Because it was, that was, that was in vogue at the time. Me?

You know, it was, it was cool to end cool. Yeah. And now most people don't think about it. But then, like, just the other side of that coin, I went and you and I think this is cool. But at the time, people weren't really digging on Bad Brains reggae songs. The end of Rock for Light is just like a five-minute jam. Sure. It's called jam.

It's called jam. You know what I mean? And so, like, it's, you and I think that's cool. So I'm not saying it's not. Yeah, but here's the thing. You know, who else probably thought that was cool? Yeah. The bad brains.

Yeah. They thought this is fucking cool. And I bet you, I mean, I, I hope that all these bands thought that. Yeah. Great pick. My next one, a band I know you don't have on here, so we're all good. An Alkaline trio, from here to infirmary. The last song on from here to infirmary is called Crawl.

It's got one of the coolest drum parts right at the beginning. It's a Dan song whose song whose song's like, kind of prefer over Skibos sometimes. It's just like this awesome, sad but happy, very Alkaline Trio song. For a lot of people, this is when Alkaline Trio like became, like after that song on the next record, they kind of became something else a little too like pop for a lot of people. So this is also the end of punk. It's kind, I don't personally feel that way, but a lot of people do.

And it's it's kind of the send off of like, hey, because there's like piano at the end it gets really pretty. And it's just like, I think it's a song all about like waking up really hungover and having to crawl to tell someone you're sorry for something. Whatever. Musically, it's like fucking beautiful. It's one of my favorite songs by them all time.

Love it. Favorite closer. My next pick is one of the most influential death metal bands of all time. One of the most influential extreme bands of all time. and this record, the record is called Temegatherian. The band is called Celtic Frost. One of the coolest songs ever written, one of the weirdest songs ever written with crazy horns and female vocals.

The song is called Necromanticle Screams. It is still played today by Tripticon, and I had, today I'm such a fucking idiot that I put the song on, and I was like, God, this song is unbelievable. I should cover this. I covered it eight years ago, and it is recorded. With what? Completely forgot about it. Twitching?

Yes. Really? It exists. And I had no idea. No recollection. And I put it on it and I was like, this fucking rock. We did it. Those guys did a pretty good job.

No memory. Where is, that is the second to last record. Is that correct? No, that's, uh, it might be. first. It's the first one. It might be morbid tales to Megatherian, but it's, it's either one or two. And then the last one is monotheist. Was there

another one? The last, very last one is Monotheus, but yeah, there was like, into the Panamonium. Oh, right. There's cold lake. There's a bunch of, there's a bunch of crazy shit in the middle. But this is early golden era, fra. Sure. Good.

Like or Monticle scrams. Are you ready for this one? This one is going to blow the listeners' minds. Who don't know this. Little band called Allison Chains off their debut LP Dirt. Do you know what closes that record? It's a hit

that you know. Radio hit. I know them bones opens it. Correct. Which is crazy. It comes out of the gate. Yeah. Yeah. What's the closer? Wood. Wow. Doodle doodle. Needle do do do ding ding ding. That's crazy.

That closes the fucking record. And it's after, it's after like the title track, it's after like kind of, they, Alice, my one B for the Allison Changes, they always did like a weird thing on every record that kind of doesn't really, you know, you got to respect it. Of course I do. It's just not necessarily for me. And then they said, let's put a two and a half minute banger at the end. The, like the best chorus, maybe ever.

It's got to be their biggest song, right? like man in the box Them bones Man in the box Rooster I think are all bigger than Wood. I mean Wood is a song you still hear on the radio today like on an alternative station or something

it'll come on. That's the best song. The At and Fudge Factory are probably my two favorite song. To the flood again. Absolutely insane. Unreal. That's their fucking closer. That's how good we used to have it

is that you could put a song like this at the end. This is a big one. Okay. For many reasons. because it is, it takes a lot of balls to not put a title track on an album. Okay. It takes even more balls to call a song on the next album, the name of the last album. Oh.

It takes a third ball. I know where we are. To close that album with it. Fuck, yeah, dude. The band is the Cromag. Yes. The album is Best Wishes. The song is Age of Quarle.

Dude, that, the second the snare hits, I'm like on fire. It changed my life. It gave me a line-checked snare beat and a door knock pattern for the rest of my life. And I, everybody talks Apocalypse Now, Apocalypse Now. This is the hardest song they ever wrote. Oh, do you think so? 100%. Shagangangang!

Apocalypse Now goes Mosh 7 or whatever. Yeah. but I think this is a cooler riff and an overall harder song. Amazing. Great pick. And it is, I actually kind of just got chills. It is so cool to call your follow-up record, the closer, the age of quarter. Like, that is really cool.

I know the age of poor is, it's a Christian thing. It's like a scripture. Some bullshit for sure. For sure. But it's a great song and a great album. It's awesome. I have a Chromex. Unrelated.

Yeah, totally. Love it. Fantastic pick. I'm bringing it over your side of the country now with one of the most important vans ever. Give it to me. Band called Terror. On the official vinyl release, because now we're, I have a couple of these that are kind of technicalities coming up. On the record, lowest of the low, the closer is lowest of the fucking low.

It. Or, of course, an instant classic is what we call that. It is like such a perfect song. The breakdown alone is like, I don't know. They redefined what California hardcore literally means with this. I remember it being a favorite at the time. And I think maybe even the first time I saw it, they didn't play it.

And it was like crushing. You know what I mean? Totally. It's an incredible song. I've seen it play it 15. times now probably. And I think Furness does the backup vocals on that, if I'm not mistaken. Sounds right.

Come on. What more do you need? Literally nothing. That's all I need. I'm going out of the box for this next pick. Okay. This counts as punk to me. Counts as hardcore, too. Fuck it. This is the hardest song this band ever wrote.

The album... This is from Boston, Massachusetts. Okay. This is, this is, this is, this is some real shit from Boston, okay. Some mighty shit from Boston, some would call it. The album is let's face it. The band is the mighty, mighty boss tones. The song is called one, two, eight.

Starts with, they start, they give you this riff for a second, where you're like, why is that riff so fucking hard? And then they go into a silly ska song with tons of, like, cool melodies and, You know, funky. Funky fresh chorus. And then they finally hit this fucking riff in the middle of it. And it's for some reason, the hardest fucking skank part of all time.

It's straight up like Best Wishes Cromack's Riff. And it makes this an all-time great album closer. I can't wait to listen to it. It's insane. That makes no sense. But yeah, it's incredible. They count.

I'm realizing we're going to have an issue with one of my my top five because I don't think we're going to consider a punk metal or hardcore, but we'll get there. Anyway. I just put a scob in, so. Okay. I mean, you're going to give it a pass.

I know. All right. Next one, we're going to, you know what? Guitar was just in Todd Jones' hands. We're going to leave it in his hands. We're going to keep it right there. The closer for a band in all life. Sum Qie Kink.

Dude. I, Sabah was staying in my apartment when he, when he wrote that. And the like weird drony parts with him yelling in the background and just like, I, when that record came out, that was a misery index for me. That was like as soon as it finished, play it again. Like always, always a double listen. And that is such a perfect statement at the end of this like blisteringly fast. I think the song before it is like the fastest song. Well, the whole record is like minute, minute, minute, minute, minute, minute, three minute.

Yeah. Minute, minute, minute, minute, two minute, minute, minute, minute, minute, six minute. Exactly. And that, Todd is a guy, nails as a band that understands a closer. Oh, yes. It's like, make this epic or it's a waste of everybody's time. And, dude, I've seen them, like a lot of bands don't play their closing song. Totally, yep.

Because they're too long or too big. Nails was not that band. I've seen them play this fucking 50 times. This was the closer in the set many times. This song is unbelievable. And Taylor doing the... With the riff. Come on.

That's massive brain. Outstanding. And truly one of my favorite songs on that record. I love that record to pieces. That one, I think, is a perfect closer. That's an all-timer. That's a 10 out of 10, easy. Great pick.

Thank you. I'm going to 180 from the Boston's here. I'm going to take a two-hour drive from Boston to New York to the Bronx. The album is 1134. The band is irate. The song is called Transcendence. You know what you're getting immediately with this. Slow, deep bass, starts double kick, palm mutes,

and then just madness for two or three minutes. It's the ultimate little statement on this insane. I don't like calling it beat down because I think it's too intelligent for that. But on this like, in a league of its own type, hard record. Outstanding. The whiplash on the playlist going from,

you got to put Boston straight into that, no matter what, it has to be that way. Okay, done. All right. That's, that's truly the, the duality of me. Yeah, truly.

Good pick. My next one, this is where there's the technicality. So on the second 100 demons record, the last song is technically a re-recording. Yeah, but this totally counts. But so what I'm doing is...

Different title. True, different title. But I'm negating that. I'll pick Never Surinda Virtue or the Latin phrase of it, but I'm going... Yeah, disadverture. Yeah. I'm going his father's son.

Based on this technicality, just bear with me. I mean, that is probably the hardest song on the record. Absolutely. But the ending of his father's son, you should know by this time, like, all that, like the way, dude. And how hard does that hit you as a guy who? I'm not joking. I remember listening to that mowing my mom's lawn when I still lived at home and being like, Mo and your mom's lawn. That's right. Yeah.

You know, like, it hits home. So, again, I know it's a technicality. I'll give it to you. It's a re-recording. You see what I mean. I got another one of those. I mean, I consider Warman the closer on God's say self-titled.

Uh-huh. Because a re-recording comes after. There you go. So I'll give it to you. Conceptually, it was, it's the last, you know what I mean? It is the last song. It's the hardest song. It's probably my favorite song.

I mean, it's a fucking incredible song. I don't know. Great pick. Thank you. I'm going to give it to you. Thank you. We got another 180 here. Back to Boston.

No, not back to Boston. But I am back to one of the hardest bands of all time. Those who know, no. Those who don't may just turn this whole thing off. But it's just a matter of opinion. Okay. The band is Primus. The album is anti-pop.

The song is the heckler. The song is going to start and you're going to be like, this is the silliest thing I've ever heard. It's, you know, it's Willy Wonka Waltz type thing. But then the chorus is just a riff. Okay. And it's fucking insane. It's like crazy harmonics, technical ass, splash, double kick drums and shit.

It's unbelievable. This, I think Taylor may correct me here. I think this is the first full record, full Primus record that he and I ever heard. It's the one, I think it's the front to back hardest one. Okay. Which if you argue that, you just don't understand and that's fine. I like anti-pop. Like, that's a cool statement to make, you know.

And the chorus of the title track is, I am the anti-pop. And he fucking is, man. I want to like Primus, because I like a musician's, Musician's band. Everything I show you, you like. You're not wrong. But then what happens is I'll see like the album art or something. And I just like, it's like smelling salts.

I just, uh, you know. I get it. Yeah. But you're not looking at the full picture here. And the heckler is the ending of one of their greatest full picture. Okay. Okay. Unbelievable core.

The chorus riff comes, hits like a fucking bomb, dude. Every time. Because it comes out of something that sounds. Nothing like it. Okay. It's incredible. I'm going to listen. I know.

I will listen. My next one. Oh, you know what? You know, it's so funny, we were just in Connecticut with Hunter Demons. We're staying in Connecticut with youth of today. Love it. The closing track of Break Down the Walls is their self-titled song, The Youth of Today. Chorus, physically strong, morally straight, were positive youth for the youth of today.

And then the fucking bridge line, Live Fast Die Young was just a fad for fucking losers who do. didn't care. When I heard that, and I was like young, young punk guy, I was like, dude, this is it. This is everything. This is it. This is everything I wanted in a band. I put this on in the gym yesterday. Did you? Just to feel something. Yeah. I'm 15 years old when this is on, you know? I mean, if you saw me at tied down when they played, I was 15 years old. You were 15 years old. This, I mean, this reminds me of, this just gave me another episode idea that I won't reveal. Excellent.

I'll write it down. Please do. I love this band, as we all know. I love this song. I love that it's the closing thing on their, you know, debut LP is their statement. This is who we are. The definitive statement is at the end. At the fucking end.

And it's such a hit. It's crazy to put it at the end. And for them- I got one of those coming up that you're not going to believe. It's a really heavy song for them, too. Like it starts heavy right away. and that they don't really. The B side of this record in general is a lot harder.

Yeah, I get you. That means like when they were writing, they were like, I like when they mosh. Let's get some of that gone. We're going to get out of New York here. Okay, good, because I'm going straight there. Okay, perfect. I'm going to give you that integrity pick you were looking for.

Beautiful. Because this is a top three integrity track, probably. Oh, does it? close it? And it's the closing song on those who fear tomorrow. The song is March of the Damned. Great track. Fuck.

Hard as shit. And it's track 15. Yeah. Dude. Because you could do that. Yeah. You could have 15 tracks and know that people are going to get there. And that some guy 20 years later is going to talk about it on a show.

It's unbelievable this song. Yeah. That, I mean, that record is. probably my favorite. Overall? Yeah, I think so. I really like in contrast of sin, but it's so short.

Interesting. I'm a systems man. Yeah. Roon through. Yep. I love Seasons, too. Dude, Seasons has some, like, crazy mosh parts in there.

I need to revisit. But those who fear tomorrow is, that and humanity is the devil are like the tide turners within hardcore, you know? Yeah. Killed youth crew, started Dark H.C.

the right way. You know? Jordans and and judge tattoos. Yeah, Jordan's judge tattoos but also like cloaks. Scrolls. Scrolls, cloaks,

Jordans, the big three. Excellent pick. All right, my next one is one more technicality. I promise it's the last technicality because I'm going to call a cover just kind of like, hey, it's a cover. Not our last material on this record. So on set it off,

they cover friend or foe at the end, which is cool and awesome, obviously. Very cool. And we know why. I think they did it again. Yeah. On dropping many suckers? They do.

They do, yeah. So it's sick, you know. I love that. I've got no issue with that. It's awesome. But the last song, the last Madball song on that, is the world is mine,

which has one of my favorite, do-da-d-d-down-down. I love the way that song ends. I love the, like, I think that's a great statement piece. And I think of the cover is just kind of a, hey, something, like something fun, something cool showing respect. I mean, I almost don't look at, I look at Madball and AF as one entity, you know? Okay. And so I like, don't even look at that as a cover almost, but it is.

But it's the same people playing. But by that rationale, it's the same thing as Hunter Demons re-recording a song then. Very true. So I'm good. You're right. But yeah, world is mine. I love that song. I've never,

don't think I've ever seen it play. But I love, like, there's like a weird pick scrape in there. Henderson just, just getting loose, you know? Absolutely. Love that song. Great pick.

Thank you. My next pick is another lost art. And that art is the hidden track. Oh, interesting. Where you don't even know it's the closer. Because you're just listening to a bunch of noise for five, ten minutes sometimes. and then the most beautiful thing you've ever heard pops up.

Wow. The album is Sing the Sorrow. The band is A-F-I. The song is this time imperfect. That may be the best fucking song they ever wrote. Yeah. Best chorus. Probably the best chorus.

Ever. Wow. When he finally belts it at the end, dude, get the fuck out of here. How are you going to hide that? But if they played it live at any show, every single person in the room would know. Which is really crazy.

It's really nice. It's crazy to think about that, like, that made me think of, there's an in-control record where there's, like, this pretty thing, and then just, like, overblown out, hyper-mastered really loud, like noise.

Scared me on a bus one time when I was going to school. And... There's a lot... Those falling asleep to something and be like, what the fuck? Dude, disharmonie did that to me.

Really? With the, like, the siren at the end? Oh, right. What's the last song on disharmony? Crucifixion. Scared the fuck. Dude, it scared me so bad. But it makes you think about like the broken Epe by Nine-Each Nails has, it has 99 tracks because all the middle ones are just nothing.

You can't do stuff like that anymore. But it did seem cool at the time. And you know what's so funny is I put on World Coming Down the other day and they got me with the false start with the records. Right. With the record. Fuck, he's fucked up. I was like, oh,

because I hadn't played that vinyl yet. Right. And they got me. You can't really do fun stuff like that. Is it a world coming down or is October Rust? It's a background. It was world coming down. Background is background.

It's a bad ground. But this is the start of, skip it. Skip it. Skip it. Yeah. Yeah. Incredible.

And you can't do stuff like that anymore. And those were, you know, there's hidden tracks on several physical switching tongues releases. Mm-hmm. I think. And Lovers and Law has one, and it's backwards.

Right. So you have to start the record at the end, and it'll move backwards. Which is crazy. Because it's a reverse groove. Yeah. I think Disarmony has one, and I think they need purpose all. I think the live record has one, doesn't it? The live record definitely has one, and it's sick as hell, and nobody knows about it.

And like, Metal Boy tried to talk us out of every single one. Yeah, yeah. Like they didn't understand why we would want some things to be only, on physical and so forth. And it's just like, so funny. That's what we love. Yeah, yeah. Make the physical experience different and unique.

Wow. It's beautiful. Right. Yeah. My next pick is one of the craziest things to close probably the best thrash record of all time. You're going to have to wait. Okay.

Okay, good, good, good. We'll wait on that. Save it. Got it. Because that's a whole monologue. I've got it prepared. All right, great. Should I do my next one or do you want to go?

Do your next one. Okay. This is a deep Metallica song. And when I was looking at Metallica tracks. Metallica's not top five? It's not top five because I don't love the call of Ketulhu. And I like, I love Damage Inc, but I don't think it's like, I think Orion would have been a cooler closer.

I'm thinking about the closer, right? The last song on the Black album is kind of their thrashiest song on the whole record. It's called The Struggle Within. There is a moment at Mark, one minute, 45 seconds, listener that I want you to listen to where Headfield does his last shrill, like shriek, and it sounds like Ride the Lightning. It literally sounds like everything he had because he goes, reaching out, and it like hits that pitch that Ride the Lightning has. This last day of tracking. Straight up. Saved it all for that.

Saved it all. And that song has the, go get in it. It's the only thrashy bit on this record. I think it's a really cool closer. It's maybe it's kind of a throwaway thing for them because you could see one of the ballots being last as like the statement piece. But it's just not.

And I just think it's a cool underappreciating. Which knowing them had to be intentional. Like let's put some old school Metallica right at the end. It almost seems like the sendoff of all right. That's the last. That was us. That was us. And I say goodbye.

I think it's fucking cool. I have a struggle within shirt. It's awesome. Puss head. Love that song, deep cut, listen to it. One minute, 45 seconds. Love it. My next pick is the closing track from one of the greatest hardcore records ever.

Crossover Excellence. This is your favorite band's favorite band. The band is Leway. From their universally acclaimed debut album, one of the hardest songs they ever wrote. Unexpected. This started a trend of a thing they do. and a thing a lot of bands do of like,

hey, here's kind of what you're going to think is our most melodic song, where it starts with like some fucking straight up Van Halen type guitar. Yep. Stops and you get this insane, ignorant, like, stomp skank part twice. The same exact way.

Ging, gink, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung. Like top three part they ever wrote, buried at the end of this perfect record. that's what it's all about. Love this song. AJ. We learned so much on the New York trip about AJ and his influence. Guy's an animal.

And you can hear it at the beginning of this. The guitar work is insane in particular, and it's crazy that this probably an E or E flat. Probably E flat. It's going gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung. It's beautiful. I love that. Great pick.

My next one, as you once said, the greatest New York hardcore band from Toronto. No Warnings debut LP, ill blood with the what would you call the title track closer? Illblood. Yeah, ill blood.

Fantastic. Great song. I'm an ill blood absolutist. I think that is one of the most important records of the era. That the way that it closes, the sing-along,

I don't know. It's just everything about it. I know every word of that whole record, but particularly that song still to this day, because when I was in high school, it was just in my little air pod. The big gang vocal bridge, you know, the ill blood mosh call.

It really is an iconic hardcore closing track. And just like even you can hear the rhythm and the way it's played, it was like very like, this is, this is current hardcore. It was almost like a, like a timestamp of like Well, I mean, it decided what was current hurtful.

That's what I'm saying. It's like, hey, here's the new assignment. Like it was, that was it. Fantastic. Outstanding. Great pick. Thank you. My next pick is one of my favorite bands of all time.

One of the most unique bands of all time, incomparable. Impossible to Comper. This is from their EP, creepy EP. The band is into another. The closing track is their hardest song ever. And it is called The Other. And to this day, it is their live closer. It's hard as shit.

Dude, the verse under different circumstances would be dying fetus. Wow. Chagong, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung. Yeah, yeah. And then, like, the riff just keeps evolving the whole time. And then the bass is doing, like, chords of another insane. riff later, ripping an insane solo, beautiful melodies everywhere, perfect ending. This is one of the greatest hardcore EPs of all time.

Who played guitar for Into Another? Peter Moses. The only guitar player until they reunited. Right. Okay. That's why a lot of, on records. That guitar cuts. That rhythm guitar cuts when the solo start.

Which is sick. Was he in other? Was he in other bands? I don't know. I don't know either. He disappeared for a while. So people thought he wasn't coming back for the reunion. And then he came back.

Amazing. Great thing. Moses is king. Part of this interruption, we've got to tell you about something very important. The color green. I'm looking at myself in a reflection here. And it's making me think about this thing I do every single morning. What's that?

But what it is is the reason. I feel so good all the time. It's the reason I feel confident in saying I'm a healthy old man at this point. You look youthful despite the elderly status. I credit AGE1, which is who is presenting this episode today. Go to drinkagy1.com

slash hardlore and try it for yourself. It's a new year. It could be a new you. So just pour yourself a cup, a cold, 12 to 16 ounces of cold water. dump this simple, tasty powder in there, shake it on up, sip it down. You're going to feel energized. You're going to feel full of all the important probiotics, prebiotics and vitamins.

Your body has been missing your entire life. I look forward to it every single day. I know that I'm taking care of myself and it makes me feel good. And I get testimonials constantly of people saying, thanks for putting me on to AG1 and it has changed my life. Truly. We feel the same. What do they get if they use that link? Well, for starters, you're going to get five free travel packs.

So if you go somewhere like tied down or LDB or Sound Jury Fest, they're all coming up and you're going to need them. You're going to need to build those immunities. You're going to need energies because we're going to need you in the pit. Okay. It is what it is. And you're going to get a year supply of vitamin D and K drops. And I heard there's some other goodies now, too. So you're going to want to check the site out and see for yourself.

Wow. This episode is also, as always, brought to you by Manscaped. You know what? Doesn't stink? Album closers. True. They've all been Manscaped in some way or another. I mean, it's very thoroughly thought about and procured for what it is. Which so could your balls be.

If you go to Manscape.com and use Code Hardlaw, you're going to get 20% off and free shipping. Close your stinky past. And begin your pleasant, fresh future. Wow. Okay? That's beautiful. It's wise. I use the body wash.

I use the crop reviver or the crop preserver. I'm about to shave in a couple days with the beard trimmer. I use these products all the time. Every single day I use something. I'm covered in Reviver right now. I don't like a stinky ball when we record. Who would? No, not I.

You shouldn't either. You don't need to stand for it anymore. Go on over there. Code hard low. off free shipping. Lastly, where'd you get that shirt, Bo?

This one? Little place called Mad Vintage. Me too. M-A-D-D Vintage.com has every band we're talking about today covered.

Yes, just straight up. So you can you hear a song you like? You can get a shirt from them on madvintage. com and use code Hardlore 15. You're going to get 15% off some of this pricey, pricey stuff. It adds up.

The vintage market's out of control and maybe it's our fault. And listen, he's going to be out and about. He's going to be at some fest coming up. He's always reeling and dealing. He's always got new stuff. You guys need to pay attention because Colin and I were assassins. I'm going to get you if you don't.

If you don't act right now, that shirt you're looking for is gone. It's gone. And I'm going to be wearing it next week and you're going to be pissed. So hurry your ass up. Quit stinking, get a new shirt in that order and drink as you want. Back to the album closes. My last one of our 15 has a funny story.

It's carry on, life less play. The last song is called Rethinking. When I first got this record, a thing would happen with my iPod, or iPod, apparently, where when I would drag a record over the last song, would sometimes not make it.

And I loved this record. I listened to it for years. I was driving with a friend one day, and he put the CD on. And all of a sudden, this song starts. And I was like, oh, is this like a bonus on the CD? He was like, no, this is the last song. And come to find, I didn't have this track on my iPod.

I'm on my AirPod, iPod. Jesus Christ. So I like, I like got a new carry-on song. Years after. Late as fuck. Late as fuck. And it's somehow the best song. It's, it is the most youth crew sounding song.

It's somehow the most positive song. It's a very interesting way to close that record because that record is pretty emotionally heavy and like dark. But it's kind of like it talks about making amends and moving forward and like rethinking, you know, it's like just a great. I mean, it's just a great final statement of the band. Yeah, yeah, true, of the band. Love this fucking song. Banger. And that was one of the first ones that came to mind when we decided to do this episode.

That makes sense. Yeah, I remember that story of you finding it later. That was a common plate in the 2000s. It happened with... It's like downloading something and just not getting the whole thing. It happened with In the Doorway by the Misfits, too. So I got to...

Well, that was, I mean, that was like a later discovered song. So that, I feel like many people shared that experience. So it was... I got one little taste of the static age thing. You know? Yeah. That's nice. My final pick before our...

top fives. Yes, sir. I'm going to go on a limb and say this is probably the best hardcore punk song of all time. And it's the closing track on Minor Threat's debut EP, Minor Threat, the song is called Minor Threat. This is why we are all here because of we're just a minor threat, you know? I know every word. You know what I mean? It's just one of those songs. It's like you learn it immediately.

And you should. And we all should. Yeah. Yeah. This is it. This is the, it's, it's much like thrash metal, you know. Peep, somebody figured it out real early and did it best. Hardcore punk, minor threat figured it out real early and did it best.

And it's, I think it's one riff, the whole song. Yeah. Just played differently, but one, same chord progression, the whole song. It's perfect. And I don't need anything else. No. And, like, dude, what's weird is, like, Sublime covered it, silver chair covered it.

Like, it was more. And it is like their statement. Very good pick. It's a statement of an entire genre, entire subculture. It's a movement. So now it's top five time. Now it's top five time.

One funny anecdote. I was trying to find a Smith song to put on here. I think Smiths are punk adjacent, but I didn't put one on. But it's really funny that the queen is dead ends with some girls that are bigger than others. And not there is a light that will never go out. That's the second to last song.

They wanted their definitive statement to be that some girls are huge. Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers. It's like, unbelievable. Over the most beautiful riffy, though. Yeah, it's like, what are you doing? Guy's a scumbach. He's always been a scumback. All right.

Top five. Should I take it away? Yeah, take it away. I, upon looking for this, was shocked to find that this was the closer on Judge's debut LP, bringing it down. The song is where it went. Classic. Their heaviest fucking song.

Yes. It's kind of metal. There's a solo. It goes like Mosh 3. It's fucking awesome. There's a music video that's incredible, but it's funny because the only people stage diving in the music video is the band. So there had to have been some kind of agreement with the venue where like,

only you guys. There's something going on. Fucking incredible baseline. so heavy I can't say enough we said it before but when we got into hardcore judge was the other yeah like it was I mean it was like

bad brains chromag's agnostic front judge in the top four of like you need to know this yeah or you're a loser you need to know the hammers specifically this record that's that was I was so pleasant like when I turned I have the LP when I turned around and saw that it was the last, I was like, oh, sick.

I was very excited about that. Easy. Easy. Easy. Top five. Absolutely. Great pick. Thank you. My number five, you're going to notice is the start of a trend of just things I've been so inspired by that I had to take them with me. The band is Dying Breed. The album is Take My Soul, Give Me Grave. The song is called God's Hate.

And it is the perfect closer to this musical anomaly, I'd call it. Yeah. Of just like, how did these guys do this thing? And they ended it with this insane, aggressive, chaotic, but still melodic song to cap off what ended up ultimately being their discography. Wow. When you put it that way, it's very cool. Capping off the discography.

Very cool. That's the ultimate sign off. You know, so I thank you them for that. Have you ever come in contact with any of them? Yeah. Mike Stack was almost, who was in Dying Reed, was almost also in Eyes of the Lord. Oh, okay, cool. So I was like, that was kind of the whole idea is that it was like me, Taylor, Bruce, Justin, Mike.

Right. Didn't end up that way, but he's still, I mean, we've talked a bunch. He's awesome. Cool. my next one is the first song that came to mind when we decided on this. Like the number one, it's actually at the top of my list, but I just put a number next to it. The closer on age of quarrel is called Signs of the Times. The energy is like perfect.

It's the riff is perfect. It's like it's the ultimate. Amazing chorus. It's the, I mean, lyrics aside, some, some, some questionable lyrics in there. But musically and vibe-wise, it is unbelievable. Yeah.

And that was, I also had this thing where even if sometimes I did get the full record off of iTunes or whatever and onto my iPod, I wouldn't necessarily listen to the whole record. I would change stuff a lot. And this was one that I kind of discovered later. I was like, holy shit, this song's like fucking awesome. It's crazy that it's last.

Because it is like track 14 or 15, right? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, the beast. side of age of quarrel has some songs where you're like okay you know yeah what's up but isn't like it's the limit and don't trade on me on the b side yeah i think i think it's the limit starts side B

side is heat yeah but then there's also like betrayed and do one to others just songs that like i don't you don't really think about you know sure sides of the times of the times is a bona fide hit unbelievable and a little a little tidbit the last song on the first harm's way LP reality approaches. I think the song is reality approaches. I could be wrong. We just

did that backwards and just made a Cromack song. And that's cool. That's why that ends that record. Because we just love sign of the times. Love it. Yeah. Great pick. My number four, one of my favorite bands ever. This is

their best closing track. Band is Faith No More. The album is King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime. this song is just a man there's a big fucking there's a whole ass choir this beautiful chorus

uh the easily the best song on the album this is the best song that this is the last perfect song I think they ever wrote where like album of the year I like the soul and dictus one

this is where they were like see you later I got you yeah absolutely insane gigantic song perfect chorus any man who's ever gone through anything

any kind of personal struggle we'll hear this and agree beautiful stuff one of his greatest vocal performances ever just enormous a perfect closing and that's why we're here it really is that's a record that I need I should revisit

to I'm such an angel dust guy and I get everything I need from that Yeah, I mean, it is so different because you don't have Jim Martin. Yeah. And I don't, I mean, and like, I don't know if Roddy Bottom is even on this record. So, like, all the keys and piano stuff are very different, too. It's very different. It's very stripped down.

Interesting. Okay. Where Angel Dust is, some call it overproduced. Sure. Which is, I like about it. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's a billion unique sounds on there.

Crazy shit. But they paid for every single one of them samples. So they avoided that with this and maybe suffered to some people, but certainly not with this song. My next one, which I'm honestly shocked that your starter was typo negative. Because my number three of the top five is gravity. It is such a perfect send-off to what we've talked about a lot of this like story that's being told over this hour-long record or something. So on the streaming version, there's Jimmy Hendricks cover, but on the actual record,

Gravitational Constant is the last song. Right. I, for some reason, I like, I never think of this as a closer. And I don't know, there's some, there's a feeling of like, oh, that's a closer. And then this is just their best song, a perfect song. I don't know.

The Dream is Dead screamed closer to me. I got you. More than gravity did it. But this is still probably my song. favorite song they ever wrote one more time won't matter no question suicide of self-discretion that's the last lyric it's it's so incredible and it's it's such a i mean what it's like a seven-minute song about killing yourself like it's crazy it's exactly what i like and yeah and it's and it's also like their heaviest kind of their catchiest like it is my favorite song love that it closes the record love it

Agreed. This is their best record to me. Maybe the better closer. I don't know. I went with my gut. I respect yours. Respect my gut. Let's stay in Petersville. Okay. Because I've got a carnivore song up next. And I owe a lot to this one too. And you'll notice that. Closer after closer after closer that I am very inspired by. The self-titled album Carnivore.

ends with a song called World Wars 3 and 4 that I thought was so good I thought I'd write some fan fiction about. This is kind of a prelude to typo in its sheer mass. It's a huge, long, sprawling epic song with like a big melodic bridge, but it's just a fucking raging thrash punk song most of the time. He hated the first record. Carnivore? Yeah, he hated it, which is so funny to me.

There's a demo version of this on Retaliation Bonus Track. And they played this at all the reunion. So I imagine he fucked with this song. He liked this song. Gotcha. It's awesome. Yeah. Took a lot of lyrics from it. Took a lot of inspiration from it.

Sampled it. one of my favorite closers of all time. I guess it's my third favorite closer of all time. There you go. Judging from this list. Excellent. All right. My number two, and this is where I need, I need a hall pass. I picked a Morrissey song.

Doesn't count. It's just the principle of what we're doing here. It has to count as much as Faith No More. How? That Faith No More record? That's not like metal or hardcore. Yeah, but the band, they've gone. Oh, da-da-da-ta-can-a-na? Morrissey's never done that, you know?

Yeah. Morrissey is not punk music, you know? It's not even rock music. Mm-hmm. I mean, it is, but just tell, just say it. It's your favorite closer, okay? It's my second favorite closer. Okay.

It's Speedway. Obviously. I mean, it's probably the most beautiful closer to a record ever. I understand that it's maybe not musically in theme with what we're talking about, but it is very heavy in theme and in lyric. And it's very... And sound at the end there with the big ass drums. It's one of the most rocking songs.

But, you know, so I'll take, I'll take flack on that. But I do think it's, it kind of... When I first heard it, it changed my opinion on what a last song could be. Interesting. Because it became this song also that, like, he didn't play. He was very choosy about. And it became like really rare because it was so emotional or whatever for him to play. And that's a cool thing too.

To have this piece of music where people go, oh, my God, he played it. You don't really have that anymore either, kind of because of streaming, kind of because of, you know, you got to play. Yeah, the closest thing is Paramore finally playing. Yeah. All I wanted was you. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I get it. If we're talking best closers ever, that's like the best closer ever.

Yeah. So I'll allow it, but it is neither hardcore normal metal. It is, and I concede. But it is a masterpiece. Thank you. Okay. My number two. Yeah.

This is a rare closer of a live album. Oh, cool. But it has to be commended. The band is Candlemas. the album is Candlemasse live. The song and this recording is the only one that exists with Messiah singing this song. The song is called A Sorcerer's Pledge. Quite a theme.

Oh, yeah. I love a closer. I take them. One of the best Candlemax songs, period. No question. Was this on Deus? No, this is on Epicus. Oh, Epic.

Excuse me, Epicus. That is what I meant. Yes. but it ends with him they do this call and response thing with the crowd and then he makes them sing

and then he sings again and then they do this whole kick break thing where they're just doing it for like a full minute and then they go back into the final riff raging double kick like full time 16th note fast part

and I think I've said before I think this is the best live album ever by any artist, any genre. Sick. And it ends the best way possible with one of their best songs, sang by the right guy, the only time, played in a unique way that you could only hear a lot. And that's, that's a close. That's a special.

That's how you close. Yeah, yeah, I like that. That's probably the most unique pick yet. Yeah, I mean, it's a lot. It's a niche thing being a live album, but this live album is like so much more than just some performance to me. I think it's the best one. Okay.

Period. All right. My number one favorite closer of all time. I'm ready. One of your favorite bands. Band called Only Living Witness. The song is called December. My God.

Not only is this song deceptively like, like kind of simple. Simple. That tells you how much it leans on Jonah's performance and how he's able to deliver. Like they maybe could have not thought it was that good until he sank.

I probably wouldn't have. It kind of just sounds like a Black Sabbath kind of thing. You know what I mean? Sure. It sounds like Children of the Great. Da, da, da, exactly. You wouldn't really... And then, dude... And then he wails.

The way... I really, it's such a perfect closer to this record. I agree. And the transition into it. Yeah. Is the best in history. It's crazy. This was one where when I put it on before we started recording, as soon as that feedback hits, it's like instant shit.

Like I'm... It sounds so fucking good. And it's easily my favorite melody of his on that record. The verse or the chorus? The verse. because the high note is it's up there. It's top of his range.

It's, it's out. C sharp, brother. It's outstanding. That is a perfect closer because the record takes you on such a journey. Yeah.

You know, this is, I told you when we started, there was a couple I was devastated to cut. This was one. This was one. Uh-huh. So I'm glad it got represented

and I'm blown away that it's your number one. Incredible pick. Love it. obviously one of my favorite bands go back and watch the episode with Jonah if you have not yet, it's incredible. We learned so much.

I asked things I've wanted to ask my whole life. And we learned a lot about this song in particular. So that was cool. Incredible pick. Thank you. Now it's my number one. And I'm confused because you told me to hold off. I did.

For this? And for this. Okay. Because I knew it was going to be. Slayer song. Okay. Good. And it's because they are the masters of the closing track. And I knew it was between three, and I had to, it took me an hour to figure out which one I prefer. Because you have seasons. Yep.

That ends with seasons. Yep. Arguably the best metal title track in history. You have South of Heaven that ends with spill the blood. maybe the best single riff they ever wrote. But then you have rain and blood that ends with raining blood, which I've deduced today

may be the greatest metal song ever written. Dude. I listen to these in reverse chronological order. Okay. I put seasons on. I had my ass blasted off. I pick up a guitar.

I go, Dung Gown Gown Go gow Gow Also one of the coolest music videos

shot of all time And it's seven fucking minutes long Yeah And it's awesome It's crazy Yeah So I'm sitting here thinking It's got to be seasons

I put spill the blood on next The fucking riff hits Duncanan again And I sit there thinking Like this is the best riff of all time Then raining blood comes on before a single note comes on. I know it's the answer.

It's the greatest metal song ever. And which, which means it has to be the greatest closer ever. I think I agree with you. It's probably one of the most recognizable riffs. It has a legit breakdown. Legit early. For no reason. Why are you doing that?

Open chug proto breakdown. It's crazy, dude. And like, knowing, having the sense, of, okay, we're doing this epic buildup. Yeah. But we're not even going to do it. We're going to get it and get it and get it and get it and going to go to and get it to yeah.

To raging Lombardo double kick. Yep. It is the perfect concoction of extreme music. And I don't think it has ever been topped. I don't think so. And also what is it like 2.30, two minutes 30? It's, it breezes by, especially when you take out the beginning noises and stuff. Yeah.

It blasts by. It barely happens. Dude, and like, atmospherically, the rain at the end is, like, awesome. It's like, it is perfect. It is the best metal song of all time. Wow. Which is why it has to be the best closer ever. I love it.

I'm so glad you picked. That's a great pick for the best ever. I'm going science here. Hanamon, baby. That's a handman. Hanamon is king. Rest in peace. The goat.

The greatest to ever do it. Welcome back, Slayer. And there it is. There's our list. Yeah. Those are the best closures ever. In our opinions, we missed a lot. I can run through my honorable mentions.

Do your honorable mentions, yeah. First honorable mention is love denied biohazard off of State of the World Address. I was expecting a biohazard song. It just got cut. Next honorable mention is dying fetus, justifiable homicide from destroy the opposition. Next, honorable mention, is driven by suffering, hate, breed, satisfaction, the death of desire. I was convinced that, or... Yeah, I was convinced that was going to be there.

I had to go with my gut here. And the last one is Life of Agony, the Stain Remains from Riverins Red. Yeah. I, you know, those are all incredible songs, but I had to go this top 15 and the five, rounding it out. Rain Blood was going to win at the end of the day, so it didn't matter. That's incredible. love that you picked rating blood. It's the best metal song ever.

Period. How was Belgium? Belgium was great. I mean, obviously we're in like a privileged position now where we can go to Europe for one day and come home. It's the craziest thing ever. Craziest thing ever. But had the best time, dude. Iper is a beautiful little town.

It really is, yeah. Very small. Very small. I saw the whole motherfucking thing. Yeah. Yeah. But like city's so full of history, looking at that cathedral, knowing it was blown to bits in the 20s and rebuilt in the 40s. By who?

But I digress. Beautiful place. The show itself was incredible. Like maybe our best European set, like hardcore set in history. Based on photos and stuff, it looked, like your response looked fantastic. It was amazing. Had the best time. I never want to play that long again.

How long would you play? Like 50 minutes. Yeah, that's what we're getting ready to do for Australia. We did 11 songs, which 11 Twitching Tongues songs is a lot. It's a lot, especially on you. When I was, yeah, yeah, it sucked. When I was walking around in the beginning, people were like, will you really play 50 minutes?

Have you ever played 15 minutes? And I was like, no. So you enjoy it. Yeah, you better be there. It was really cool to just see, like, people I saw at our first tour. Fuck, yeah. You know? Yeah.

Literally, 14 years ago, people I met on a boat in France, the guy that booked our first show ever. Like, our first tour ever, not our first European tour. Our first tour period was in Europe. Oh, really? And there were people wearing shirts from that tour. Wow. And, like, having us sign records from that tour. Amazing.

So it means a lot to be remembered. It means a lot to get that kind of response in a country. Belgium was actually honestly always good to us. But on a continent overall, people traveled from across the entire thing. That was tough for us. But I think we've kind of opened a door now to a new generation who, much like in America, other people who never got to see us, it's real now to them. Yes.

Spent a day in Bruges as well. Beautiful place. Can't believe it. It's beautiful. Can't believe it. I watched in Bruges on the way there. Hell yeah. Just to get ready.

Had the best time. Did all the stuff. Climmed the tower. Those fatties. Definitely were not making it up there. That's real. It's 15 euros now. It's not five anymore.

So be prepared if you go. How's the euro doing? I don't even know. Euro? It's like one, a dollar, Oh, we're good. Yeah, we're good. We're close.

No, a dollar, like a 1.05 euros is a dollar. So we're still losing somehow. But we're good. It's better than 1.3. Because it was like 150 the first time I went. Yeah. So pretty cool. Flying, traveling there is still just like

Willy Wonka every time. Yeah. Just nothing is just like, what are you doing? To check a bag, you got to go to one place and then to pay for the check bag, you've got to go to another place. And you can't drop them off until you paid for them. It's insane.

Also, on a connection, when you have to do the thing where you connect internationally and then put all your toiletries and plastic bags, what was different from the 10-hour flight I just took? It makes no sense, dude. So you're saying American security sucks. Right. which they probably really think.

But the whole traveling system needs to be aborted and rebooted. Yeah, I think if there's one thing that can benefit from like globalized policy, it's air travel. Yeah. It is the only pure globalized thing in existence. Yeah. It's McDonald's and flying. When we landed in Greece, they went through my bag and made me throw something out that like that Germany didn't care about.

It was just like, well, what? Why? What do you mean? It makes no sense, man. It doesn't make any sense. But I had, regardless, we all collectively had the best time. And like, this is a band, this is a unit of guys who were broken by Europe before. Like, we haven't played there in 2018 because we left saying we're never coming back.

So to be asked back for one thing, have it makes sense. and to have it be so successful was incredible. So I thank Alex. I thank EPRFest for bringing us. Beautiful. We hope to come back soon. No plans at the moment, but we'll let you know.

Had a great time. I went to the Royal Rumble. You really did. It was awesome. Thank you. Friend of the show. Mr. Punk. Mr. Brooks?

Mr. Punk. Brooks. It was outstanding. Had a great time. really crazy to see. Went to the wrestle con thing. Saw like Kurt Engel and met Jake the snake. How was that?

Dude, I actually have a really funny story. So I walk off to him, shook his hand. He said, Jake, could I get a print and get a picture with you? He said, yeah, no problem. 100. I went, okay, cool. And as he's... $100?

It's a meet and greet, you know? So as he's... Yeah, it's Jake. It's Jake. I guess. So as he's like signing the thing, go, Jake, you take card, and he literally stopped and went, cash. And I went, okay, immediately text Danhausen.

It was like, do you have cash? Can I borrow $100 for Jake the snake, please? And then paid Danhausen later. But got a picture with him. That was really fun. Honestly, seeing Kurt Engel was like crazy. Yeah, that's my, that's top four for me. Dude, it was just wild to be like.

That's my mother joke, dude. How tall is he? Not like a little taller than me, but I'm sure that's, surgery, you know? Yeah. That's, he was like Hogan. He like shrunk over the years. Third neck took him down a couple inches. Had a really cool conversation with a mosh and thrasher of the headbangers. This is huge.

About their sourcing of the shirts that they would wear back in the day. They would often wear- Because those who don't know, they would be in typo shirts, Pantera, anthrax, you name it. Stuff I want. You know, like I watched up like the 98-Roy Rumble and one of them was wearing a type of shirt that at the moment of me watching it, I was also wearing. So it put it into my head, well, how are you guys getting these things? And I asked them and they said, oh yeah, the bands would send merch like to the office. And it was probably through, you know, Blue Grape or Roadrunner or whatever. I would guarantee you Blue Grape had some

kind of deal or relationship with WWE where they sent them personally. And what's cool is one of them, I couldn't tell them apart, but they were like, oh yeah, man, I used to love all that stuff. Typo, Napalm death. I hate God. Like dropped some cool. I was like, okay. So it's real. It's real. Yeah, it was real. So that was a fun little, just one question I've always had and they were very cool. I didn't like punish them too long or anything about it. And that was, that was really fun. I got deathly ill. Nice. As you can certainly hear. And that's what I'm recovering from. I'm glad you're all better. Yeah.

I avoided a European plague. There's something going around right now that is like deadly. Everyone I know has this, has what I have. I think I had it like a month ago. Yeah. And I'm safe now. I'm immune. So feeling good about that.

I have the best immunities. We're getting ready to leave for Australia, Harb's Ways. So that's the big thing. I think you'll be there upon time of release. So if you're listening to this or watching this right now, go see Harm's Way in Australia. Please. I hate to date this incredible episode, but, you know, it needs to be said.

But that was this, that was our time. Thank you all so much for watching. We hope you enjoy this incredible playlist of epic opuses opi. Opi. Yeah, that's it. And we'll be back next week with obviously some pure heat because that's what we do. See you next week. Bye.