Around the world, this fall has been a season of tragedy, an ugly reminder that death takes the innocent every day. And it has included some especially terrible reminders of that fact for music fans. The slaughter at the Bataclan music venue in Paris on November 13 has of course dominated the news in recent weeks, overshadowing another tragedy that happened on October 30 at a club in Bucharest, Romania.
On that night, at an album release show at Club Collectiv for a local band named Goodbye to Gravity, an explosive fire broke out that has claimed the lives of 60 victims so far, including two members of the band, with more than 100 people still hospitalized, some still in critical condition. The catastrophe led to three days of national mourning, massive protests in the streets, and the resignation of Romania’s prime minister.
To raise funds for the victims of the tragedy (for both medical bills and funeral expenses), the noted Romanian graphic artist and musician Costin Chioreanu, whose name will be familiar to readers of this site, has released a collection of music entitled The Quest For A Morning Star via Bandcamp, and I think it’s worth your time and your money.
Chioreanu has commented on the project as follows:
“Is very hard for me to find the words to convey the devastating effect of this, so I’ll try to just stick to the facts. For our small community of music fans, this has been beyond terrible – many of us here have been friends for many years, and those newer to the scene, we’d still have recognised. The loss and impact is almost too big to comprehend at the moment.
“I want to thank all the great musicians who have taken part in these soundtracks – for their immediate response and support in making this compilation possible and available for fundraising. The love and support that’s out there in the international metal scene is unbelievable. I want to thank everybody who has helped out, from the bottom of my heart.”
Chioreanu (a member of Bloodway as well as the creator of metal album covers for a long list of notable bands) originally created the tracks in the compilation as musical accompaniment for exhibitions of his visual art, and many of them have never been released before. They include participation by such other artists as Rune Eriksen (Aura Noir, Twilight Of The Gods), Attila Csihar (Mayhem), and Mirai Kawashima (Sigh).
I’ve included a stream of the album below. To buy it as a digital download and to learn more about the individual tracks, go here:
https://costinchioreanu.bandcamp.com/releases