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Nocturnal_Evil
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Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:00 am
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:55 pm 
 

Most bands start their careers with an album which is looked upon in hindsight as a strong work within the bands catalogue, if not their best. The reason for this commonality is not complicated: the onus is on every new band to really hook their target audience, and this impetus is combined with the fact that oftentimes these artists have been honing their songwriting tunes for years prior to their first release. Where a lot of bands fall short is keeping their momentum after numerous releases.

What bands do you know which ended on a real banger; an album that may very well be their definitive work?
Now, everyone here and their mother can answer this question with "Bolt Thrower" and "Those Once Loyal." Try and be a bit more creative. Also, for the purposes of this question, don't mention bands which only ever had one full length.
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LycanthropeMoon
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 30, 2021 11:19 pm 
 

"From a Dying Ember" by Falconer is the best farewell album I can think of off the top of my head, personally. Bangers from beginning to end. Makes me sad that they called it quits, honestly.

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SculptedCold
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 12:44 am 
 

Though Bolt Thrower are my fave DM band, i'll say no thanks to Those beans. I think it's one of their weakest, not strongest (though I don't think there's a BT album that's less than fantastic overall.)

Reverend Bizarre with So Long Suckers is the most epic parting album I can think of.

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InnesI
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 12:54 am 
 

Nocturnal_Evil wrote:
Most bands start their careers with an album which is looked upon in hindsight as a strong work within the bands catalogue, if not their best. The reason for this commonality is not complicated: the onus is on every new band to really hook their target audience, and this impetus is combined with the fact that oftentimes these artists have been honing their songwriting tunes for years prior to their first release. Where a lot of bands fall short is keeping their momentum after numerous releases.

What bands do you know which ended on a real banger; an album that may very well be their definitive work?
Now, everyone here and their mother can answer this question with "Bolt Thrower" and "Those Once Loyal." Try and be a bit more creative. Also, for the purposes of this question, don't mention bands which only ever had one full length.


For me Those Once Loyal is not just a great Bolt Thrower album it is also the best Bolt Thrower album. I also think Celtic Frost went out with their best album in Monotheist.
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matras
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 2:39 am 
 

For me, there's a difference between "Farewell album" and "album that just happened to be our last because we split up". Which makes me think... do I really know about any Farewell Albums? Apart from So Long Suckers by Reverend Bizarre?

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lordcatfish
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 3:14 am 
 

Best album with the intention of splitting up after: Sentenced - The Funeral Album. Can't think of many others tbh.

Best final album: it'd have to be Dead Again by Type O Negative. A very fitting end (not that it was intended that way).
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morbert
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 5:45 am 
 

matras wrote:
For me, there's a difference between "Farewell album" and "album that just happened to be our last because we split up". Which makes me think... do I really know about any Farewell Albums? Apart from So Long Suckers by Reverend Bizarre?


Same, which albums were intentionally a farewell?
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sjal
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:23 am 
 

I've always thought "Voidwards" by Dolorian is objectively their most impressive and interesting album, and even felt that it was wrong to not vote for this album in the ''Albums of the 2000s'' poll (I like all of their albums, but the self-titled one is my *personal* absolute favorite so I voted for ''Dolorian'').
But I'm not sure if this band fits into this thread (technically, they are not a "split-up" band, but it doesn't look like there will ever be a new album from them)...

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Floodland
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:37 am 
 

sjal wrote:
I've always thought "Voidwards" by Dolorian is objectively their most impressive and interesting album, and even felt that it was wrong to not vote for this album in the ''Albums of the 2000s'' poll (I like all of their albums, but the self-titled one is my *personal* absolute favorite so I voted for ''Dolorian'').
But I'm not sure if this band fits into this thread (technically, they are not a "split-up" band, but it doesn't look like there will ever be a new album from them)...


Aha, good choice of an album. Incredible music, but similarly, their self-titled is their crowning achievement; what a dark, gloomy, beautiful piece of musical art that album is...
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Lane
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:56 am 
 

Cathedral's 'The Last Spire' was intended as a farewell album. And it still remains as such. However, the guys need to re-animate!
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:50 am 
 

Opeth's farewell to their extreme metal prog style Watershed is one of the best albums they ever made and one of the only ones from them I keep coming back to.
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jose_G
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 11:06 am 
 

Celtic frost- Monotheist...

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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 12:13 pm 
 

jose_G wrote:
Celtic frost- Monotheist...


My favorite thing about Monotheist is determining whether it's the last Celtic Frost album or a stealth Triptykon debut.

Pagan Altar's The Room of Shadows has a huge air of finality to it, especially with Terry Jones having passed a couple years before it properly released.
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zemat
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 3:09 pm 
 

jose_G wrote:
My favorite thing about Monotheist is determining whether it's the last Celtic Frost album or a stealth Triptykon debut.



This.

I have always consider Monotheist to be the first Triptykon album, and part of Triptykon´s discography instead of Celtic Frost´s.

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Radulfr
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Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2020 6:30 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:33 pm 
 

The Sound Of Perseverance and Nordland I & II are my favourites by Death and Bathory

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MikeyC
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:20 pm 
 

Spawn of Possession ended with Incurso, which I believe is their strongest of the three albums they released.

Martyr ended with Feeding the Abscess, an album that upped the technicality from their earlier stuff. I like all their albums, but it definitely encapsulated their style at the time.

If Anata never release their next album, The Conductor's Departure is by far their best one, personally.
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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:29 pm 
 

Thergothon's Stream From The Heavens is both a debut and a farewell record, and one of the best funeral doom albums of all time to boot.

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Nazgul1974
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2021 11:51 pm 
 

Desultory´s "Through Aching Aeons" was a pretty solid farewell album, in my book.

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gestapothrash
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:17 am 
 

zemat wrote:
jose_G wrote:
My favorite thing about Monotheist is determining whether it's the last Celtic Frost album or a stealth Triptykon debut.



This.

I have always consider Monotheist to be the first Triptykon album, and part of Triptykon´s discography instead of Celtic Frost´s.

x3, it's barely a Frost album
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Zerberus
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 3:31 am 
 

Twisted_Psychology wrote:

Pagan Altar's The Room of Shadows has a huge air of finality to it, especially with Terry Jones having passed a couple years before it properly released.


Came here to say basically this. I don't think The Room of Shadows was as such meant to be a farewell album (I could be wrong), but it does feel so grave and serious that it might as well be.
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GOOFAM
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 4:50 am 
 

Sometimes albums are intended as farewells and then end up not being, too. Candlemass' Psalms for the Dead and TNT's A Farewell to Arms come to mind.

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entzauberung
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Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:49 am
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 7:05 am 
 

zemat wrote:
jose_G wrote:
My favorite thing about Monotheist is determining whether it's the last Celtic Frost album or a stealth Triptykon debut.

[This.

I have always consider Monotheist to be the first Triptykon album, and part of Triptykon´s discography instead of Celtic Frost´s.




I disagree here. Fischer continued the sludgy doom of Monotheist in his new project, but the latter is much more varied with more distinct songs than any of the Triptykon albums - and since Ain cowrote most of them I'd have to at least partially credit his involvment for this.

gestapothrash wrote:
x3, it's barely a Frost album


What is a "Frost album" though? They all sound pretty different.

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DoomMetalAlchemist
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:07 am 
 

The Holy Empire is probably my favorite Warlord release. They were supposed to release a follow-up on Frontiers Records in like 2017, but Bill Tsamis had some health issues he couldn't overcome, and then died this past March. I still don't even know what the cause of death was.

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Benedict Donald
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 11:14 am 
 

DoomMetalAlchemist wrote:
The Holy Empire is probably my favorite Warlord release.


Agreed...it's a fantastic record!

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Nocturnal_Evil
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Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:00 am
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 11:24 am 
 

Just to clarify, I didn't make the thread for albums which were actually meant to be a goodbye/officially last record. Just the final in the discography of a band which hasn't made anything since and hasn't put out any indication of ever doing music again.
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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 08, 2021 6:16 pm 
 

Vinterland's Welcome My Last Chapter is another one that comes to mind as an often overlooked classic of Swedish melodic black metal. At this point it seems unlikely they'll ever release any new material, so like Thergothon it's both a debut and farewell.

I'd put Dawn's Slaughtersun here too, unless they finally get around to releasing The Fourfold Furnace sometime this century.

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ThePoop
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 08, 2021 6:42 pm 
 

lordcatfish wrote:
Best final album: it'd have to be Dead Again by Type O Negative. A very fitting end (not that it was intended that way).

Agreed 100%. For my money it's the best Type O album (which I seem to be in the minority there among Type O dieheards). Was never meant to be a farewell, but it totally works that way. I mean the last line of the last song is literally "All hail and farewell to me..."
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HorrorMetal
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 8:46 am 
 

The Devil You Know by Heaven and Hell, if that even counts. Obviously they weren't planning on that being their final album but sadly that's how it ended up due to the tragic death of Ronnie James Dio. I enjoyed it way more than Black Sabbath's 13, which I suppose is the true farewell album from (essentially) the same band. And I'm pretty sure they intended that to actually be their last album, seeing as they went on their farewell tour shortly after.
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CreepingDeath16
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:08 am 
 

matras wrote:
For me, there's a difference between "Farewell album" and "album that just happened to be our last because we split up". Which makes me think... do I really know about any Farewell Albums? Apart from So Long Suckers by Reverend Bizarre?

Yeah, So Long Suckers is the only good one I know. Bands often change their minds way too fast for the "promises" to really stick.

Bathory's Nordland II wasn't supposed to be a farewell album, but it really works as such, especially since The Wheel of Sun reads like a swansong, despite the "Bathory shall return" outro following it. Twilight of the Gods, on the other hand, was supposed to be the final album (thus omitting the usual outro), but Quorthon changed his mind. Good thing that he did.
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Opus
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 11:10 am 
 

Thin Lizzy ended with a banger indeed. It hits you like a hammer. God damn!
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FirebathDan
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 11:19 am 
 

Not metal: R.E.M.’s Collapse Into Now.

A perfect summation of their career, featuring elements from pretty much all albums/eras.

They went into it knowing it would be their final album and that they would split, and have held true to that 10 years later. I would be pretty surprised if they reform.
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Gemini 7 Rising
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:23 pm 
 

Discordance Axis went out with The Inalienable Dreamless, a masterpiece of the genre.
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HeavenDuff
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 7:27 pm 
 

InnesI wrote:
For me Those Once Loyal is not just a great Bolt Thrower album it is also the best Bolt Thrower album. I also think Celtic Frost went out with their best album in Monotheist.


I wouldn't say that Those Once Loyal is the band's best, but it's definitely one of the best. Probably top three for me, alongside Realm of Chaos and ...For Victory. However, TOL owes a lot to these previous records who laid the groundwork for it. While it has merits of it's own, it didn't shape death metal as much as these other two, and while TOL is often regarded by many (fans and non-fans of the band) as Bolt Thrower's highest point, I think everyone would do well to revisit Realm of Chaos again, as it is one of the most innovative, most memorable, and crazily gritty and killer album there ever was.

Still TOL is, in my opinion, the best farewell album of all metal. I think it's pretty hard to top as, typically, bands tend to disband when they have completely or almost completely ran out of steam, which is usually something the band and fans realize with weaker later releases that eventually lead to the band calling it quits.

Radulfr wrote:
The Sound Of Perseverance and Nordland I & II are my favourites by Death and Bathory


The Sound of Perseverance is among the weakest efforts of Death, or maybe not weakest, but most inconsistent. It's high points are higher then those of say Spiritual Healing, but the weaker tracks of TSoP are extremely forgettable and mediocre. And on a more personnal note, I find it sad that some people consider that Death's (arguably the founders of death metal) best album, is their least death metal album of all.

I don't think of TSoP as a weak point of Death's discography, but it was showing the loss of interest of Chuck for death metal altogether, and it announced what would come with Control Denied. It's hard to tell what Chuck would have done with Death, now that he was exploring power metal more and slowly abandonning death metal. I feel that, if he had not passed, he would have probably laid Death to rest, and focused on Control Denied. Which would have not been a bad thing, as I think that death should have remained a death metal project to the end.

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SculptedCold
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 11:26 pm 
 

HeavenDuff wrote:
as Bolt Thrower's highest point, I think everyone would do well to revisit Realm of Chaos again, as it is one of the most innovative, most memorable, and crazily gritty and killer album there ever was.


Not only all that, but it's also still a unique album too. Nothing else either sounds like or styled songs like that record. Amazing considering all the breadth and depth that death metal has travelled and disgorged since. I still stand by my review of it. ..and ...1989. Insane album.
Honestly something like Those.. doesn't even come close (to 'best' status). Though, apples and oranges stylistically ofc.

HeavenDuff wrote:
The Sound of Perseverance is among the weakest efforts of Death, or maybe not weakest, but most inconsistent. It's high points are higher then those of say Spiritual Healing, but the weaker tracks of TSoP are extremely forgettable and mediocre. And on a more personnal note, I find it sad that some people consider that Death's (arguably the founders of death metal) best album, is their least death metal album of all.


I like your points. It was for the time definitely less "death metal", but I think it also contributed to and probably helped popularize a certain proggier, cleaner substyle of technical DM. I guess that sort of approach also morphed into one of the stylistic nadirs of tech DM (for me), but I hugely enjoy pretty much every moment of TSoP. I love the sheer wildness of the rhythm section in particular, and it's shameless grandiosity.
Dunno, it's a good send-off in my book.


To add another; Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise. Like Monotheist, it's fun wondering whether it's Emperor's last or Ihsahn's first. Both, of course. A masterpiece, arguably a true farewell also.

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joppek
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 10, 2021 3:43 pm 
 

MikeyC wrote:
If Anata never release their next album, The Conductor's Departure is by far their best one, personally.


i'd agree it's their best, but i'd definitely drop the "by far" - imo they have a consistently fantastic discography, even when you count the early demos
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josantyago
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 10, 2021 5:54 pm 
 

Although not metal, Rush's "Clockwork Angels" seems also to be a great farewell to the band, as some years later they ended

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SD Plissken
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 11, 2021 9:59 am 
 

Order From Chaos - An Ending in Fire
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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 11, 2021 12:16 pm 
 

Nasum's shift was a pretty good note to end on, although it likely wouldn't have been their last if not for Mieszko passing away in such tragic circumstances.

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Subrick
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 7:39 pm 
 

Alone by Solitude Aeternus. Dark as fuck epic doom, and an extremely fitting way for that band to go out, even if it most likely wasn't intended to be that way.
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Gravetemplar
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 8:10 pm 
 

Necros Christos - Domedon doxomedon is their best by far and one of the best death metal albums ever recorded. From what I've read it was envisioned to be their last album from the start.

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