How should I start presenting this vital piece having my mind completely fried? I will do my best to De-crypt the Riddle here….This story started 2 years ago….when I wrote the very first chorus part of this album…for the song which later become the opening track of this album.. and that was “This was not supposed to be a nightmare, this was just supposed to be a dream – My dream. Our dream.”
On all Bloodway albums we have the character and his shadow represented, somehow, on the front cover. This cover keeps the legacy of previous two records, at this chapter. Now the character is on fire and is yelling in pain, while the shadow tries to calm it down. Is yelling loud to a closed sky, pushed by all experiences he had achieved among humans, by understanding the darkest essence of human life in this thing called society. He is the child of fire, that inner child every creative person needs to have and to protect. The child is desperate, he is still playing at those strings of a key. The key has two meanings: once it represents the key of the prison cell which nobody want to leave in order to live outside society, but is also presents the idea that music is the key to the soul and high realms. The music is also a portal to the depths of mind, as that higher character is showing in the picture.. the key has a chain. The chain tells a story as well: there are moments when you might want to quit music, from various reasons, but you simply cannot, as you are totally addicted to it. And you feel stuck completely in a lifetime prison, created by your childish expectations. Sometimes this addiction can harm your soul, when you see musicians and friends from the scene turning into monsters by hunting just fame and money, when you see the void exploited at maximum and the whole artistic decadence for the sake of attention and profit. The addiction to music can be also like a blessing, that dream world we all dreamers need so much. Depends on us how we can get the power to keep ourselves in that dream world as much as possible. Depends on the band’s unity and love and passion shared by the members. That is what people can call “Heaven”.
The shadow of the character is having for the first time wings. Is a sign that it will soon departure to higher realms, to reach different worlds, higher than the flesh or flames of his companion.
The entire base of this world is falling, piece by piece. This is the foundation / landscape of the entire story. As much as the character understands the structure of the prison around him, created only by a sick imposed perception, as more the foundation of this world is turning into pieces. The math-squares from behind which are “measuring” the spectrum of visible universe are a parody to the pathetic human tendency of measuring and classifying everything. That’s a classic, so to say.
The face made of leaves is the soul of the band. This band is heavily related to autumn and it will forever remain like that. So, the bars of the prison are having as well a second meaning: those are the hands of 3 characters which are the band members, Me, Alex and Mihai. We created with our hands and minds this whole thing, maybe sometimes without being even conscious about what we are doing, but led by an unseen force which is obviously the spirit of the band …so we are there as well. This is the cover for ” A Fragile Riddle Crypting Clues”, the closing chapter of our trilogy, which started in 2014, with our first release “Sunstone Voyager And The Clandestine Horizon”.
And now, I will present each booklet illustration I made for this album.
From all points of view, from the level of details to the amount of information / metaphors, this is probably the most complex illustration I’ve done so far. It is entitled “Encounters To Pray For” and relates to the darkest places from life and dream world.
This is the second illustration I made for the booklet of Bloodway – “A Fragile Riddle Crypting Clues”. It speaks about more subjects at the same time, but I can name it “The eternal martyr waiting for a logistical miracle”.
This is the last illustration I made for the last part of the trilogy we started back in 2014 with our band Bloodway. Basically this is the last drawing which is completing the whole story. I can talk hours and hours about this drawing or I can just say nothing, for me is cool, I feel now complete because I finished the most complex task I ever gave to myself since I started making music. Ok, I can resume the image to a short text: “In the end my dreams will sing in the rhythm of Cosmos, dancing in circles as cycles, until the day I will leave. Outside the prison of a trained mind there is no good or evil, no above, no below, outside these bars there is everything just the way it is. I wish I can enjoy it in full someday, before I leave.”
However, please check out my band here, and believe me you will discover some interesting things.
The album is available HERE.