The Big Finish

[Ducky]

Rush - Clockwork Angels.

Particularly impressive when you consider it's 38 years removed from the debut

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Not metal at all, but since it's his darkest album, and since he made it pretty much as his own requiem, Bowie's Blackstar has to be up there as one of the greatest finishes of all time.

[Smythsonian]

Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning

[Bürggermeister]

The obvious one for me is Celtic Frost and Monotheist, easily up there with their best material. A Dying God... in particular is fantastic.

Ah yeah, great call. Phenomenal album.

[Giggles]

Behold The Sound of Perseverance and the power it holds!   

Certified banger 

[Mooncat]

Not metal at all, but since it's his darkest album, and since he made it pretty much as his own requiem, Bowie's Blackstar has to be up there as one of the greatest finishes of all time.

First one I thought of. Is there a greater finish? The album alone is one of the greatest last albums for sure, but when you add in all the mythology steeped around it, it's hard to beat!

If we're going non-metal (although technically kinda sorta proto metal here and there) then I'm also throwing in Electric Ladyland.

[Anvil]

Rush - Clockwork Angels.

Particularly impressive when you consider it's 38 years removed from the debut

Played the hell out of this when it was released, it is an incredible album.

Bolt Thrower would also get my vote, as would the The Sound of Perseverance. 

An lesser known pick would be Doomsword.  I think The Eternal Battle is a really strong album though a small step down from the rest of their output... not sure.

Now (perhaps) for a controversial one... Black Sabbath - 13 (the EP that came afterwards doesn't count).  I liked it a lot when it was released, and recently played it again following Ozzy's demise. It is certainly better than the previous two albums Sabbath did with Ozzy and actually not a bad album to have as your final one.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I think 13 is pretty damn good too, a more than respectable final album for a band that long at it. On the tour, the tracks they played from it sounded huge and fit perfectly in the setlist.

[Trev]

I think aside from the production, and the attempts to plagiarise themselves, 13 is grand enough. Always thought the three bonus tracks were better than most of the album and can't understand why they were left off

Don't think it's anywhere near as good as The Devil You Know though which would have been a brilliant album to go out on

[Blizzard Beast]

Dissection -Reinkaos.
Gorefest -Rise to Ruin.
Windir -Likferd.
Bathory -Nordland II.

[open face surgery]

Blackstar would certainly be the best end of career album ever, in my book. Prometheus is a banger as well.

[Sworntothecans]

Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning

Fuck yeah. Absolutely deadly.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

That'd be a lot of people's (including me) favourite Lizzy too. Potential whole other thread!     

[Eoin McLove]

Monotheist never clicked with me. Great production on it and brilliant artwork, but the songs seemed to plod endlessly. Dying God is grand but I can't recall anything else off it and I revisited it relatively recently. I don't think I even made it half the way through it in fairness.

Dead Again on the other hand. Phenomena. I think I'll throw it in the car for the drive to work this morning

[The Heretic]

Dead Again by Type O Negative. Not their best release but still a very strong album to finish on.

I've always failed to see anything good in that album. Steele was a dying mess by the time they recorded this and it lacks everything that made them great in the first place.

I felt the same about that album for years, I bought it on the day it came out and was disappointed and didn't bother with it until a few years ago, then for whatever reason it clicked, I would have it in a 3rd place with WCD after BK and OR