So recently I discussed with a friend how so many of our favorite tracks have these epic eruptions or buildups/crescendos to some epic/headbanging highpoint where just everything clicks. I would love to hear your favorites, as mine are:

Opeth - Godhead's Lament, the riff after the acoustic section with "thought I could not leave this place" that just keeps on going for a while without any vocals and is just epic. There's a few similar points in Ghost of Perdition.

Alcest - La ou naissent les couleurs nouvelles, from Les Voyage, where the very post-rocky thing begins to buildup and you can hear Neige scream in the background and then it just erupts into double kicks and screams with an epic melody in the background.

Gojira - Art of Dying, I don't need to explain this.

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Towards the Sun, the verse and blast riffs repeat a few times and then the song erupts into a more open double kick epic chorus with growls and falsetto singing.

The piano/guitar solo on Green Carnation's Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness (about 42 minutes in).
The stuff when the opera singer comes on on Fleshgod Apocalypse's The Egoism - the whole album seems to be building to that moment.
(particularly the choruses on) Summoning's A Dsitant Flame Before The Sun - same again, whole album seems to build to that song.

Nevermore's This Godless Endeavor (the song) is just a huge, orgasmic build-up from start to (almost) finish.

Written by M C Vice on 07.09.2015 at 13:38

The stuff when the opera singer comes on on Fleshgod Apocalypse's The Egoism - the whole album seems to be building to that moment.

That is a great moment.

SEWER - NecroPedoSadoMaso towards the 14 min mark



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT6YJhuo5tg

and of course

the unbeatable

Between the Buried and Me - White Walls (the whole song really !)

How about the duelling guitar and fiddle on Nightwish's The Poet And the Pendelum?

Written by Irritable Ted on 08.09.2015 at 16:31

Black Sabbath Heaven And Hell last part, Rainbow Stargazer last part, Kamelot Elizabeth part 3, Whyzdom Cassandra's Mirror up to and around 4:40.

Agree with Heaven and Hell and especially Stargazer. Must check out kamelot and the last one.

A few that I think of off the top of my head:
Primordial - Bloodied Yet Unbowed - whole song is pretty much a build-up to that blast section. A lot of their songs have great crescendos though.
Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
Opeth - The Drapery Falls - whole song descends into the growly bit
Alchemist - Chinese Whispers - the folky bit in the middle builds up nicely to the solo and smoothly transitions back to the beginning and chorus.
Helloween - Halloween - been a while since I listened to it but I recall one of the solo sections being quite a spectacular climax.
Mastodon - Crack The Skye - multiple eruptions into monster riffs or just very dance-able sections.
Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven - pretty obvious one, but I'm including it anyway.

There are plenty more that I'm forgetting.

There's so much. When it all erupts, your earphones blow apart and you just can't keep yourself from headbanging after the cello stuff in Amon Amarth's "Live for the Kill", that is a pretty bad ass moment.

The ending of the song "A Sequel of Decay" from Beyond the Veil by Tristania. It seems the song builds up to that beautiful ending.
"Moonhorse" from the Avatarium debut, the last part is just booming! .
Devin Townsend's "Praise the Lowered".
Emptiness' "Nothing but the whole" (the song) chaotic ending.
Shade Empire's "Disembodiment". The song builds up for about 10 minutes to the ending.

Opeth - Hessian Peel

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but the The Mighty Masturbator by Devin Townsend has a great climax.


It's such a... fitting end to the song, too. Another Devin one would be Universal Flame.

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One Rode to Asa Bay - Bathory. I like that little pause before the last solo/outro section. Calm before the storm and all that.
As Planets Collide - Bend the Sky. Its generally a huge sounding song, but about 3/5ths of the way through it grows and grows and explodes.
Fossil Genera (A Feed from Cloud Mountain) - Between the Buried and Me. First half is the storm, then the 2nd half is the calm. Kinda. Then there is half-time extended outro section that is beautiful and unsettling and wonderful that just builds and builds.
Wheel of Time - Blind Guardian (mainly because I'm a fan of the books and this speaks to me, duuuuuude)
Lucy Fears the Morning Star - Diablo Swing Orchestra. This actually is actually built around crescendos and eruptions but the climax of the song is just so... unexpected. It comes from nowhere, as any Samba-from-Hell would, and it is awesome.
Finally Free - Dream Theater. Possibly their best piece of music ever. I think some people would consider The Spirit Carries On to be the climax of the album, but for me, it's this. The whole story just converges in this one song, and possibly the most shiver inducing moment of any Dream Theater song ever occurs around "We'll meet again my friend, someday soon" when that epic riff burts out and Portnoy does his best to destroy the drum kit over the next few minutes.
Hangar 18 - Megadeth. This is all about the crescendo but the lack of an eruption or a climax. The 2nd instrumental section just builds tension over its course, builds speed, some more tension, then just ends really abruptly. And I think it's executed perfectly.
The Furthest Shore - While Heaven Wept. I'm not sure I have much to say on this, to be honest. This is a monster that flows back and forth until it builds up to what I like to call the Pachelbel Progression (ie the Outro).

Written by Darkside Momo on 07.09.2015 at 13:41

Nevermore's This Godless Endeavor (the song) is just a huge, orgasmic build-up from start to (almost) finish.

^

This.

Hmm, I have some others that I like, but they don't really count as metal.

One of my favourite things about post-metal is the presence of these kind of crescendos in a fair number of songs, and Isis have done it quite a few times, but possibly the best example is Syndic Calls off of Panopticon as far as that kinda thing goes.
One of my favourite climaxes is the "Is this all we have, when we die" bit about 8min into White Walls by Between The Buried And Me
Also, my favourite song, Learning To Live, has a gradual build-up for a couple of minutes of beautiful, almost Latin-esque, music before a divine guitar solo erupts.
And Widower by Dillinger Escape Plan is pretty much an entire song of build-up before finally unleashing.
I love build-ups and climaxes!

Have to check out all of these when I have the time. Adding a few of my own:

Mayhem - Funeral Fog - it's subtle, but the part where he goes "Fuuuuuneeeraalll FOG" and then the riff and double kicks jump in. It's great.
Ne Obliviscaris - Forget Not, Xenoflux, And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope all have great eruption moments

And I don't know how it has not been said already but, the mother of all high points/climaxes in heavy metal: Iron Maiden - Afraid To Shoot Strangers.

I can agree with many of the previous posts. One of my favourites that I'd like to add is the underappreciated Dark Tranquillity song Emptier Still. The keys before the final chorus do it for me.

Leprous do this a fair bit as well. Acquired Taste, Painful Detour and Contaminate Me come to mind.

Gonna drop some more underground picks rite har

Dark Buddha Rising - M: huge buildup start to finish, but towards the end when those vocals kick in is just massive feels
Deathspell Omega - Carnal Malefactor: This by far has my vote for favorite Deathspell track. The chants in the middle are eerily beautiful, and then the eruption that comes immediately after they end is just godly
Cult Of Fire - काली मां: This whole thing is just an absolutely wonderful instrumental, but when the piano kicks in towards the end? Holy fuck, comrades
Elysian Blaze - The Temple Is Falling: This is a track that tells all the other climaxes/crescendos in metal to sit the fuck down and take note
A Forest Of Stars - God: Some of the best pacing you can find in any metal song, anywhere
Nachtmystium - Seasick (all parts): This is really probably the least metal Nachtmystium track, but fuck it. An excellent development of emotion all throughout
Sunn O))) & Boris - Akuma No Kuma: That trombone. THAT MOTHERFUCKING TROMBONE.
Wolves In The Throne Room - I Will Lay Down My Bones Among The Rocks And Roots: An oldie but a goodie
Lord Mantis - The Whip And The Body: "Emotional climax" isn't really something you'd associate with blackened sludge, but hell, when that outro riff comes in on this one, it definitely is one.
Leviathan - Gardens Of Coprolite: Another outro that brings everything together and is just butt-fuckingly awesome. Probably my most-played track from this year
The Ruins Of Beverast - Soliloquy Of The Stigmatised Shepherd: "Father, make me a seed for a silent meadow..."

Boy, those 360p Youtube uploads of those songs are god-awful. Good picks though.

Written by Auntie Sahar on 10.09.2015 at 01:01


A Forest Of Stars - God: Some of the best pacing you can find in any metal song, anywhere

Cracking song. That fucking riff from 9:30 onwards - it's sometimes hard for bands to stand out when you're still getting into metal and being bombarded with new discoveries; that riff wormed its way into my head and pretty much single-handedly got me paying attention to AFOS

Written by Doge of Venice on 09.09.2015 at 06:31

Finally Free - Dream Theater. Possibly their best piece of music ever. I think some people would consider The Spirit Carries On to be the climax of the album, but for me, it's this. The whole story just converges in this one song, and possibly the most shiver inducing moment of any Dream Theater song ever occurs around "We'll meet again my friend, someday soon" when that epic riff burts out and Portnoy does his best to destroy the drum kit over the next few minutes.

Ah yes. That song and that part with the following drum solo is without doubt one of the best moments of metal ever. I was almost crying like a baby of joy when they played it here last time.

Throwing in another chip for Leprous.



The ending to this track is still one of the best climaxes I can recall.



Or just all of Contaminate Me... It really does feel like an ultimate, unexpected climax to a largely subdued and tempered album as a whole. Just an absolute outburst of everything the band had.

Lots of great songs in there!
I'll add a few more then:

• Continuing on A Forest Of Stars, the excellent Gatherer Of The Pure takes the cake for me (tension building and building... but beware the calm before the storm!)
• Amebix - Knights of the Black Sun (bonus, the video is great)
• Anathema did a lot of those, notably "Closer" and "The Beginning And The End" (but they use that a lot)
• Dark Tranquillity's Insanity's Crescendo, not really exploding but slowly building up
• Dream Theater's "Home" hasn't been mentioned yet but works just fine (and I prefer it to "Finally Free", but that's just me)
• Iced Earth - the three Gettyburg songs, particularly in "Hold At All Cost" and "High Water Mark"
• Jenx - Nibiru for some indus metal
• Neurosis, as a post- band, did quite a few of those, but if I had to recommend only one, it would be "Stones From The Sky"
• SUP - Imago, a slowly building up instumental
• System of a Down used it often and effectively too (Highway song, Streamline, Aerials...)
• Not metal, but Lunatic Soul - The Final Truth has it all
• Non-metal too, but Marillion - The Invisible Man really is intense (prog rock)
• Not metal either, and the build-up is only slightly noticeable but higly effective: The Clockwork Quartet - The Doctor's Wife (steampunk)

Written by Lethrokai on 11.09.2015 at 10:24

Throwing in another chip for Leprous.



The ending to this track is still one of the best climaxes I can recall..

The bit where he hits that ridiculous high note just makes me want to strike some random 80's power stance while pretending to bellow said note.

I was going to mention this song myself, but I can't remember why i decided agaisnt it.

Rishloo do a lot of uppy-downy, quiet-to-maniacal stuff that I enjoy, e.g. https://youtu.be/cwZsqnjQi3g?t=8m13s, or https://youtu.be/S7q2CocZWnQ?t=2m30s, or https://youtu.be/BEPf86o3YvA?t=2m24s.
Major Parkinson also descend into booming madness from time to time, as in the latter half of this wild ride down The Black River culminating around the fourth minute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDaxaFI5bq0.
There is also Crimson Glory's Lost Reflection: https://youtu.be/pdwNlvCj87U?t=3m5s.

More climaxes - this time, in list form, as appears to be popular.

Devin Townsend Project - Numbered!
Insomnium - One for Sorrow
Anathema - Anathema
Apocalyptica - Bring Them to Light
Dream Theater - In the Name of God
Bolt Thrower - Salvo