"A Past and Future Secret" is the first cd single from German power metal

Power metal

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

 band Blind Guardian

Blind Guardian

Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres...

, and the third track on their 1995 album Imaginations From the Other Side

Imaginations from the Other Side

Imaginations from the Other Side is the fifth studio album by Blind Guardian that was released in 1995. The atmosphere of this album is darker in comparison to their earlier works, such as Battalions of Fear, which had a relatively happy tone...

. It is an acoustic song, and its guitarwork and lyrical themes strongly evoke the Arthurian legends

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

 cycle, the end of which it describes through the eyes of an observer. Specifically, it details the doom of Camelot

Camelot

Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world...

 and the destruction of King Arthur's dream at the Battle of Camlann

Battle of Camlann

The Battle of Camlann is best known as the final battle of King Arthur, where he either died in battle, or was fatally wounded fighting his enemy Mordred.-Historicity:...

, where the king and his bastard son Mordred

Mordred

Mordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...

 slew each other. Mortally wounded, Arthur was borne away to Avalon

Avalon

Avalon is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was...

, where he shall remain in healing until Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 needs him once more.

Track listing

1. "A Past and Future Secret" – 3:47
2. "Imaginations from the Other Side" – 7:18
3. "The Wizard
   The Wizard (Uriah Heep song)
   "The Wizard" is a single from rock band Uriah Heep's 1972 album Demons & Wizards and was the first single to be lifted from the album. It was composed by Mark Clarke and Ken Hensley...
   
   " (Uriah Heep
   Uriah Heep (band)
   Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
   
    cover) – 3:17
4. "A Past and Future Secret" (Orchestra Mix) – 3:48

Lineup

• Hansi Kürsch
  Hansi Kürsch
  Hans Jürgen Kürsch, better known as Hansi Kürsch is a German musician, the lead vocalist and lyricist of power metal band Blind Guardian. Together with André Olbrich, he is also the principal songwriter for the band. He was also the bassist in Blind Guardian until the 1998 album Nightfall in...
  
   – vocals and bass
• André Olbrich
  André Olbrich
  André Olbrich is the lead guitarist of the German power metal band Blind Guardian. He is one of the band's founders together with vocalist Hansi Kürsch, and serves as one of its main songwriters....
  
   – lead guitar
• Marcus Siepen
  Marcus Siepen
  Marcus Siepen is one of two guitarists in the power metal band Blind Guardian. For the biggest percentage of Blind Guardian's songs, particularly in more recent years, he has almost strictly played rhythm guitar, with most lead and solo work being performed by André Olbrich.-Personal:Siepen is...
  
   – rhythm guitar
• Thomen Stauch – drums