Best Intro/ full song combos

[nomisofsiman]

Today I was listening to Grave Digger's Tunes of War, which is a fantastic album. Specifically though, I find that album to have the best ever 1-2 punch in an album I can think of. The intro of "Brave" and "Scotland United" gives me goosebumps. Anyways, that got me to thinking, what are some of the best intro/first full song combos you guys can think of? Besides Grave Digger's Tunes of War I also give runner up status to the following:

Judas Priest - "Dawn of Creation"/ "Prophecy" - Nostradamus

Helloween - "Invitation" / "Eagle Fly Free" - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II

King Diamond - "The Dead"/ "Never Ending Hill" - Give Me Your Soul...Please

Gamma Ray - "No World Order" / "Dethrone Tyranny" - No World Order

Iced Earth - "Star Spangled Banner" / "Declaration Day"

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

JUDAS PRIEST - The Hellion/Electric Eye from Screaming for Vengeance. Absolute fucking classic.
DOKKEN - Fair Warning/Tooth and Nail from Tooth and Nail.

 

[Locust0311]

Vanden Plas - Fire Blossom/Rainmaker from The God Thing, far and away my favorite combo

 

[nomisofsiman]

JUDAS PRIEST - The Hellion/Electric Eye from Screaming for Vengeance. Absolute fucking classic.

Absolutely one of the best album openers, but I guess for me I always seem to consider that one full song, even though on the album it is split up, which is probably why I forgot about that one.

 

[edgeofthorns]

Overture/Sarajevo/This Is The Time - from Savatage's Dead Winter Dead

Heal My Soul/Somewhere In Time/Believe - from Savatage's Streets

~Brian~

 

[Rezz]

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friends - The Beatles
Brain Damage/Eclipse - Pink Floyd

 

[spag]

Black Sabbath - E5150/Mob Rules

JUDAS PRIEST - The Hellion/Electric Eye from Screaming for Vengeance. Absolute fucking classic.

Very hard to beat....

 

[Angrafan]

Vanden Plas - Fire Blossom/Rainmaker from The God Thing, far and away my favorite combo

Great Choice!

Overture/Sarajevo/This Is The Time - from Savatage's Dead Winter Dead

That's a good choice as well.

I'd go with Angra here:

Unfinished Allegro/Carry On
Crossing/Nothing To Say

 

[mel_progson]

Helloween - Deliberately Limited Preliminary Prelude Period in Z/Push from Better than Raw.

Nothing comes close in my opinion. I just had to give it a run at high volume as I'm posting.

 

[jem777az]

Arch Enemy - Tear Down The Walls/Silent Wars
Motley Crüe - In The Beginning/Shout At The Devil
Van Halen - 1984/Jump
Machine Head - Enter The Phoenix/Desire To Fire

 

[mel_progson]

Motley Crüe - In The Beginning/Shout At The Devil

Well played sir.

 

[DarkOne]

I don't know how you reached this many posts without mentioning Queensryche's Anarchy X into Revolution Calling?

Steve in Philly

 

[PureXul]

Nevermore - "Ophidian"/"Beyond Within" - Dreaming Neon Black

 

[Prog_Please]

Hmmm, these come to mind for me:

Trauma - "Intro (White Architect)" -> "Cortex Deformation"
Agalloch - "A Celebration For The Death Of Man..." -> "In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion"
Kamelot - "New Allegiance" -> "The Fourth Legacy"
Kamelot - "Desert Rain" -> "Nights Of Arabia" (its not technically the first full song, but its an obvious intro into the next song)

... and as mentioned previously:

Iced Earth - "Star Spangled Banner" -> "Declaration Day"

 

[Knightfall]

Fairyland - Opening Credits + Across the Endless Sea Part II (off Score to a New Beginning)

The last two songs on that album would also be my pick for best penultimate song + outro, by an even wider margin.

Honorable mention to the following (back on the topic of intro + first song):

Blind Guardian - War of Wrath + Into the Storm
Star One - Down the Rabbit Hole + Digital Rain
Symphony X - Prelude + Evolution (The Grand Design)
Dark Moor - The Ceremony + Somewhere in Dreams
Of course, Angra has several good ones as well.

 

[spag]

Fairyland - Opening Credits + Across the Endless Sea Part II (off Score to a New Beginning)

The last two songs on that album would also be my pick for best penultimate song + outro, by an even wider margin.

Good pick. I never hear anyone mention this album, but it really is a great one.

 

[grilled_cheese]

Originally Posted by Locust0311 View Post
Vanden Plas - Fire Blossom/Rainmaker from The God Thing, far and away my favorite combo

Great Choice!

I third this!

But Megadeth's Good Mourning/Black Friday is the tops!

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

Helloween - Deliberately Limited Preliminary Prelude Period in Z/Push from Better than Raw.

Nothing comes close in my opinion. I just had to give it a run at high volume as I'm posting.

Goddamn right. I was coming here to post this specifically and you beat me to it. Brilliant in every sense of the word. I think tied for second would be Prelude to Madness/Hall of the Mountain King and The Hellion/Electric Eye.

 

[Mardoch]

Angra really seems to love that mechanic, and they normally make it work for them very well. In addition to those mentioned, I like these:

Angra - Deus Le Volt! -> Spread Your Fire
Angra - In Excelsis -> Nova Era
Demon Hunter - The Flame That Guides Us Home -> Not I
Kamelot - Solitaire -> Rule the World
Kamelot - Prologue -> Center of the Universe
Kamelot - Regalis Apertura -> Forever
Myrath - Intro -> Hope
Nociceptor - Intro -> The Fell (which is followed by another awesome pair of Emergence -> Botfly)
Pagan's Mind - Approaching -> Through Osiris' Eyes
Pagan's Mind - The Conception -> God's Equation
Pain of Salvation - Spirit of the Land -> Inside
Pain of Salvation - Of Two Beginnings -> Ending Theme
Serenity - Set Sail To... -> New Horizons
Star One - Lift Off -> Set Your Controls
Symphony X - Oculus Ex Inferni -> Set the World on Fire
Tomorrow's Eve - Prof. Brandon -> Optimization
Tomorrow's Eve - Man Without a Name -> Amnesia
Trivium - The End of Everything -> Rain
Warmen - Introduction -> The Evil That Warmen Do

Never really noticed how many there are until I set about looking for them.

 

[5150]

To show my age, I'll pick early ones:

Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)
Queen - We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions (one of the most famous double A-side singles)

These pairings are frequently separated on collections and boxsets but when you hear them back to back, it just makes sense.