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 CD´s 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

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1.Austere - Beneath The Threshold

2.Farsot - Life Promised Death

3.Labyrinthus Stellarum - Vortex Of The Worlds

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1.Hauntologist - Hollow

2.Narzissus - Akt III: Erl ö sung

3.Saxon - Hell, Fire And Damnation

4.Aaru - S.W.N.P.L

5.Gray State - Under The Wheels Of Progress

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1.Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite

2.Carnosus - Visions Of Infinihility

3.Ne Obliviscaris - Exul

4.The Arcane Order - Distortions From Cosmogony

5.Wayfarer - American Gothic

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1.Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite

2.Carnosus - Visions Of Infinihility

3.Ne Obliviscaris - Exul

4.The Arcane Order - Distortions From Cosmogony

5.Wayfarer - American Gothic

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Some Great Records In My Collection That I Forgot Or Didn’t Listen, Re Discovered Bands Or Re Listening Others, A Great Exercise Of Shared Experience

1.Various Artists - Metal Blade 20th Anniversary: Double Decades Of Aggression

2.Nasty Savage - Indulgence

3.Sacred Rite - Is Nothing Sacred

4.Reverend - World Won't Miss You

5.Hexx - Under The Spell

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1.Amiensus - Reclamation: Part 1

2.My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding

3.Eternal Storm - A Giant Bound To Fall

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1.Minenwerfer - Alpenpässe

2.Odraza - Rzeczom

3.Kanonenfieber - Menschenmühle

4.Marduk - Serpent Sermon

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1.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

2.Enslaved - Frost

3.Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

4.Tiamat - Wildhoney

5.Dream Theater - Awake

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My ranking of all 11 studio albums by Manowar

1.Manowar - Battle Hymns

2.Manowar - Sign Of The Hammer

3.Manowar - Hail To England

4.Manowar - Kings Of Metal

5.Manowar - Fighting The World

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1.In Flames - Reroute To Remain

2.In Flames - Sounds Of A Playground Fading

3.In Flames - Come Clarity

4.In Flames - Soundtrack To Your Escape

5.In Flames - Foregone

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1.Blackbraid - Blackbraid I

2.Mist Of Misery - Severance

3.Stormruler - Sacred Rites & Black Magick

4.Kvaen - The Great Below

5.Amon Acid - Cosmogony

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1.Iced Earth - The Glorious Burden

2.Kamelot - The Black Halo

3.Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy

4.Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth

5.Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free

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This list contains my favorite releases from 2024. Non-metal albums are also included, although, as last year, most of them are metal. This list is complete and will change until the end of the year.

1.Anastasia Kobekina - Venice [classical]

2.Abigor - Taphonomia Aeternitatis - Gesänge Im Leichenlicht Der Welt

3.Aquilus - Bellum II

4.Ghostly kisses - Darkroom [dream pop]

5.Vemod - The Deepening

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