Secret tracks, sometimes also called ghost tracks, unlisted tracks or hidden tracks, are songs or audio pieces that were left off the track list of an album.

The easiest way to hide a secret track is providing the space for a distinct track that is just not listed on the back cover. However, there are also other possibilities:

Multisided records are vinyl records that have more than one groove per side. Therefore, double-grooved LPs can contain the secret track in the second groove.
Moreover, some vinyl records contain audio in the locked groove, which is usually silent and used for keeping the needle from drifting into the label area.

Compact discs may contain secret songs in the pregap of a track. Therefore (depending on the CD player), the secret track is not played automatically, but has to be manually back-scanned to be started.

In general, secret songs are often placed at the end of the final track, which contains the listed song and the unlisted audio separated by some minutes of silence.

Enhanced CDs may contain tracks that are not recognized by regular CD players but can only be detected as multimedia files by a computer.

In rare cases, two tracks have to be played simultaneously in order to either complement each other or to suppress distorted parts, resulting in a reconstructed song.

In general, there seems to be a trend that fewer secret tracks are produced for new releases. Moreover, re-issues of older albums often contain formerly secret tracks as listed bonus tracks or omit them entirely, especially for digital versions of the album.

Please feel free to suggest more examples of secret tracks on metal/hard rock albums.

1.Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics

2.Anthrax - Volume 8: The Threat Is Real

3.Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding

4.Children Of Bodom - Something Wild

5.Def Leppard - High 'N' Dry

      View entire list ››

1.Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics

2.Prong - Rude Awakening

3.Spiritual Beggars - Another Way To Shine

4.Sacred Reich - Heal

5.Sacramentum - Far Away From The Sun

      View entire list ››

1.Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black

2.Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World

3.Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

4.Nevermore - The Obsidian Conspiracy

5.Nevermore - Enemies Of Reality

      View entire list ››

Metal albums that blow me away every time I hear them. Loosely ordered... list gets less organized as it goes on. My favorite song from each album is included.

1.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

2.Faith No More - Angel Dust

3.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

4.Tool - Ænima

5.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

      View entire list ››

1.Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

2.Helloween - The Time Of The Oath

3.Impellitteri - Screaming Symphony

4.Grave Digger - Tunes Of War

5.Sentenced - Down

      View entire list ››

1.Cradle Of Filth - Dusk... And Her Embrace

2.Katatonia - Brave Murder Day

3.Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

4.Manowar - Louder Than Hell

5.Dimmu Borgir - Stormblåst

      View entire list ››

Here are my favorite 11 songs (time frames included) that have the best progressive jams I could recall from memory. These are prime examples that really make me love metal. Whether it be brilliant solos, adroit syncopation, sick drum solos or amazing composition with hooks and turns that will keep you listening, these sections surely put the" progressive" stamp on these bands. Please let me know if you are aware of more song with kick ass progressive jams in them, and I'll add them to the list. There's a really good Dream Theater one that is better than the one I listed, but I can't recall.

1.Akercocke - Sheltered By the Sand

2.Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

3.Darkwater - Shattered

4.Ihsahn - Called By The Fire

5.Nevermore - The Politics Of Ecstasy

      View entire list ››

1.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

2.Opeth - Morningrise

3.Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

4.Nevermore - The Politics Of Ecstasy

5.Arch Enemy - Black Earth

      View entire list ››

A mix of progressive, doom and the darker side of metal.

1.Ihsahn - Eremita

2.Jeff Loomis - Plains Of Oblivion

3.Virgin Black - Sombre Romantic

4.Virgin Black - Elegant...And Dying

5.Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone

      View entire list ››

A list of my favourite Progressive albums on Metal Storm, ranked roughly in order of preference.

1.Ayreon - The Human Equation

2.Dol Ammad - Ocean Dynamics

3.Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition

4.Porcupine Tree - Signify

5.Opeth - Still Life

      View entire list ››

1.Novembre - Wish I Could Dream It Again

2.Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness

3.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

4.Novembre - Arte Novecento

5.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

      View entire list ››

My favourites of the 90's. Bitch and moan girls, or check some of these out.

1.Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops

2.Nagelfar - Srontgorrth

3.Mysticum - In The Streams Of Inferno

4.Corrupted - Llenandose De Gusanos

5.Esoteric - The Pernicious Enigma

      View entire list ››

Favorite releases from 1996

Updated 9/19/20

1.Immolation - Here In After

2.Deeds Of Flesh - Trading Pieces

3.Cannibal Corpse - Vile

4.Cryptopsy - None So Vile

5.Adramelech - PsychoStasia

      View entire list ››