Music / Nox Arcana

Music from the shadows for Creatures of the Night

Incarnatus iure,
Benedictus ave,
Nox Arcana glorium-
Ad limina tempus,
Vestigia cantus,
Nox Arcana glorium!

Nox Arcana, a Gothic Classical group creating self described music from the shadows, formed in 2003 as a collaboration between gothic fantasy artist Joseph Vargo (of ex-Midnight Syndicate fame) and musician William Piotrowski. The group's first album Darklore Manor introduced the music world to what would become Nox Arcana's signature style — a darkly beautiful, but wonderfully eclectic sound that centered around the brilliantly realized backstory of the album's concept.

With the albums being published by Vargo's company Monolith Graphics, the group put out new album after new album, each with an entirely new concept. Concepts ranged from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe to dark carnivals, Transylvania, pirates, fairy tales, and (surprise!) four Holiday albums.

In 2009, the band put out two more albums (Blackthorn Asylum and a second Holiday album, Winter's Eve), within a few months of each other. In 2010, House of Nightmares, the band's second collaboration with Buzz-Works was released. As of 2019, twenty-two albums have been released, with the most recent being The Haunted Symphony.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Nox Arcana's work is that it is not simply music. The music is only one part of the whole (albeit the most important part). The band creates stories that tie in with the album's concept, often including vocals and sound effects that help to tell the story. Vargo's artwork adorns the album covers and booklets. On the official website, an interactive area known as "The Arcanum" allows listeners to enter the world of the music through solving puzzles hidden in the CDs. The Dark Tower and Darklore Manor have books that tie into their stories, and Monolith Graphics released in 2018 a point-and-click puzzle game that ties into Theater of Illusion called The Cabinets of Dr. Arcana.

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The band's discography is as follows:

• Darklore Manor (2003)
• Necronomicon (2004)
• Winter's Knight (2005)
• Transylvania (2005)
• Carnival of Lost Souls (2006)
• Blood of Angels (2006): Collaboration with Michelle Belanger.
• Blood of the Dragon (2006)
• Shadow of the Raven (2007)
• Grimm Tales (2008)
• Phantoms of the High Seas (2008)
• Blackthorn Asylum (2009)
• Zombie Influx (2009): Collaboration with Buzz-Works.
• Winter's Eve (2009)
• Theater of Illusion (2010)
• House of Nightmares (2010): Another collaboration with Buzz-Works for the Halloween season.
• The Dark Tower (2011)
• Winter's Majesty (2012)
• Legion of Shadows (2013)
• Gothic (2015)
• Season of the Witch (2017)
• Ebonshire (2018)
• The Haunted Symphony (2019)

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Nox Arcana provide examples of the following:

• Abandoned Hospital: Blackthorn Asylum, which has been abandoned ever since a mysterious tragedy.
• All There in the Manual: An extreme example with the puzzles inside the CDs, and a more mild example with the stories and the contents of The Arcanum.
  • The Darklore Manor book and the Tales from the Dark Tower trilogy provide more context for their respective albums.
• Another Dimension:
  • Theater of Illusion features the shadow realm, which is a mysterious dimension hidden between space and time.
  • In Blackthorn Asylum, Dr. Aldritch performs his inhumane experiments to gain insight into another dimension.

• Buried Alive: Happy endings are few and far between with Nox Arcana, but one of the most chilling parts of their whole career is the hidden track of Shadow of the Raven, at the end of "Nevermore." It's Fortunato screaming that he's still alive and begging for help.
• Circus of Fear: The Carnival of Lost Souls/Circus Diabolique.

• Creepy Child: The children's voices narrating "Nursery Rhyme. and "The House Beyond the Graveyard".
• Creepy Circus Music: Pretty much every song on Carnival, but especially: "Ghosts of the Midway," "Calliope,", Pandora's Music Box and "Haunted Carousel."
• Creepy Monotone: Several of the narrations sound like this.
• Curse: Darklore Manor is a classic case — Natives called it: "the place where shadows walk," it became a hot spot for black magic, a bunch of deaths and other tragedies happened, and... You get the point.
• Dark Reprise: "The House Beyond the Graveyard" from Gothic, already creepy in its first version, makes a return as a bonus track, where instead of a children's voice and eerie background noise it's instead narrated with deep male voice (Vargo's) and backed with a quiet organ.
• Don't Go in the Woods: "Shadow Forest," "Deep in the Woods," and "The Haunted Forest."
• Dracula: Transylvania is a musical adaptation of the story.
• Dragon Hoard: The Treasure of the Four Crowns is protected by a dragon named Flame Tongue.
• Dramatic Thunder: A frequent sound effect in their music.
• Driven to Madness: "Descent into Madness," one of the tracks on Shadow of the Raven, the album based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe.
• Electric Torture: "Shock Treatment."
• Eldritch Abomination: Necronomicon has several, being based of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
• Ethereal Choir: All the time. The "Gregorian Shadow Choir."
• Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: "Highland Storm."
• Evil Laugh: In "Hall of Mirrors.," "Heart of Darkness," "Hidden Horrors," "Creeper," "Testament," and the end of "Dark Surrender." There's also a sinister chuckle at the end of "Lair of the Vampire."
• Evil Sorceress: Sinistra, the witch queen.
  • Also Mara, the vampiric Dark Queen from The Dark Tower
• Evil Sounds Deep: Vargo's baritone provides sinister vocals on most albums. He takes it up to eleven with the dragon Flametongue's voice, and the voice at the beginning of "Lair of the Vampire." Downplayed on the Necronomicon album, in which it sounds higher.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness:
  • "Castle of Nightmares," anyone?
  • The Dark Tower.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Their album Necronomicon is about... The Necronomicon.
• Flying Dutchman: The Tempest, from Phantoms of the High Seas.
• Fallen Angel:
  • ''Children of Heaven'' is the story of an angel who fell from Heaven after desiring a mortal man.
  • ''Blood of Angels'' is a song from the perspective of the descendants of fallen angels.
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: Ominous bells are used quite a lot in their music. At least a couple times on every album, but especially on Winter's Knightand Winter's Eve.
  • Special mention goes to "Vesper Tolls" from The Dark Tower and "Gothic Sanctum" from Transylvania.
• Fractured Fairytale: The whole concept behind Grimm Tales.
• Ghost Pirate: The titular Phantoms of the High Seas.
• Ghost Ship: The Tempest in Phantoms of the High Seas.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Sinistra, the witch queen, and Mara, the vampire queen.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: A given in the Necronomicon album, based off of the works of H. P. Lovecraft. It's also implied to have happened to some of the inmates at Blackthorn Asylum, based on the Lovecraft story "From Beyond."
• Haunted Castle:
  • "Castle of Nightmares." It says it right there in its name.
  • The Dark Tower.
  • "Castle Dracula."
  • Ravenwood Castle, from The Haunted Symphony
• Haunted House: Darklore Manor, House of Nightmares, and "Grimstone Manor" from Gothic. Blackthorn Asylum and The Dark Tower could count as well.
• Heartbeat Soundtrack: Used to great effect in "Darkness Rising."
• Hidden Track: At least once per album. Usually twice. Sometimes three times.
• Hollywood Voodoo: "Voodoo" from Theater of Illusion.
• Homage: To Dracula in Transylvania, to Edgar Allan Poe in Shadow of the Raven, and to H. P. Lovecraft in Necronomicon and Blackthorn Asylum.
• Idiosyncratic Album Theming: All of Nox Arcana's albums (that weren't assistance to other artists) have 21 tracks. As Joseph put it, "We are contractually bound to put 21 tracks on all our CDs. It's part of our pact with the Devil." Every CD also has a hidden track, one or more.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place:
  • Blackthorn Asylum? Sounds like your friendly neighborhood hospital!
  • Edmund Darklore should not have named his mansion after himself if he wanted it to sound nice...
  • Grimstone Manor in Gothic.
  • The Dark Tower, from The Dark Tower.
  • "Castle of Nightmares" and the "Hall of the Witch Queen", from Grimm Tales.
• Instrumentals: Most of their output. Occasionally they have spoken narration. Songs with sung vocals are rare, although not completely unheard of (examples include "Fate of the Tempest", "Spellbound" and the album Blood of Angels).
• Intergenerational Friendship: Joseph first teamed up with William when he (William) was 15 years old.
• Ironic Nursery Tune: "Nursery Rhyme" is a perfect example.
  • Another good one is "The House Beyond the Graveyard" from the Gothic album
  • Grimm Tales' intro has hints of it too.
• Knife-Throwing Act: "Diablo" and "The Devil's Daggers." This being the Circus Diabolique, it doesn't go well...
• Lighter and Softer: Winter's Eve is significantly lighter than other albums, consisting mostly of pretty piano and guitar pieces. Despite this, it was very well received in the fandom.
• Lonely Piano Piece: 30-50% of their songs are this.
• Lust: Sephiriel, the main character of Children of Heaven, is an angel who falls from heaven because of her desire for a mortal man.
• Mad Doctor: Dr. Neville Aldritch.
• Magicians Are Wizards: Theater of Illusion is about stage magicians who use real magic.
• Magical Society: The Arcanum from Theater of Illusion.
• Masquerade Ball:
  • "Grande Masquerade."
  • "Masque of the Red Death."
• Mega Maelstrom: "Maelstrom."
• Monster Clown: The clowns in the Carnival of Lost Souls.
• Mr. Fanservice: Just ask any Joseph Vargo fangirl. William has his fair share of female fans as well.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
  • Dr. Neville Aldritch, whose last name is a play on "Eldritch."
  • Sinistra, whose name is derived from "sinister".
• Necromancer: Well..."Necromancer."
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Many songs, but "Gregorian Hymn" stands out as a shining example.
• Ominous Music Box Tune:
  • "Music Box" and "Pandora's Music Box," which kindly have "music box" in the title to alert you. Also, the background music on "Hypnos." Also on the hidden track of Carnival of Lost Souls.
  • While Theater of Illusion is Lighter and Softer, the music box tracks on this album still fits the ambience.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: Several songs- "Masque of the Red Death," "Mask of Arcana," "Darkness Immortal," and "Oblivion" are all very organ heavy.
• One-Woman Song: "Belladonna", “Lorelei,” and “Annabel Lee.”
• One-Woman Wail: All over the place, for example, in “Siren’s Call.”
• Pendulum of Death: A whole album called Shadow of the Raven is devoted to Edgar Allan Poe. One of the tracks is "The Pit and the Pendulum", and in addition to the music, there is a steady whooshing noise to portray the pendulum's presence.
• Pirate Booty: The lost treasure of the Tempest.
• Religion of Evil: "The Arcanum" (from the Theater story) could be seen this way.
• Sanity Slippage Song: Most of Blackthorn Asylum, but especially, well, "Sanity Slipping."
• Secret Circle of Secrets: Actually, "The Arcanum" fits this trope much better.
• Shout-Out: A dual one in the metal remix of "Storm" from Carnival of Lost Souls:
  By the pricking of my thumbs
  Something wicked this way comes.
  • A variant on this same line is also in a track on The Dark Tower called "Something Wicked."
• Sorcerous Overlord: Sinistra, the witch queen from Grimm Tales.
• Start My Own: Heeey, remember that band Joseph was in before Nox Arcana? Oh yeah... Midnight Syndicate.
• Technicolor Fire: "Black Fire."
• Theme Naming: All the winter albums (except the Ebonshire series) begin with Winter's *Noun*, which is why they are often referred to as the Winter's Trilogy.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: In Necronomicon, some songs center around this.
• Title Drop: In the track "Hypnos" from Theatre of Illusion:
  Welcome to the Theater of Illusion, where dreams and nightmares come alive.
• Überwald:
  • Transylvania, which takes place in a version of Transylvania inspired by Dracula.
  • The Dark Tower, which takes place in a fictional location called Vasaria.
• The Undead: Undead creatures feature frequently in the stories of each albums, including (but not limited to) ghosts, vampires, skeletons, and zombies.
• Villain Song: "Blood of Angels" is one from the perspective of the descendants of fallen angels.
• Who Dares?: "WHO DARES INTRUDE UPON MY DARK DOMAIN?"
• Whole-Plot Reference: Blackthorn Asylum is one to "From Beyond" by H. P. Lovecraft.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Forlorn, about a character (possibly a vampire) who wants release from the curse of eternal life.
• Wicked Witch: "Hall of the Witch Queen." and several tracks on Season of the Witch.
• The X of Y: So many. "Sanctuary of Shadows," "Temple of the Black Pharaoh," "The Haunter of the Dark," "Guardian of the Gate," "Lords of Darkness," "Ritual of Summoning," "Ghosts of Christmas Past," "Reflections of Long Ago," "Spirit of the Season," "Sentinels of Stone," "Night of the Wolf," "Ghosts of the Midway," "Hall of Mirrors," "Theatre of Sorrows," "Citadel of Secrets," "Treasure of the Four Crowns," "Legions of Darkness," "Steeds of Thunder," "Defenders of the Realm," "Chamber of the Immortals," "Blood of the Dragon," "Legacy of Sorrow," "Mysteries of the Night," "Labyrinth of Dreams," "Castle of Nightmares," "Edge of the World," "Lords of the Deep," "Fate of the Tempest," "Legacy of Darkness," "Threshold of Madness," "Tapestry of Decay," "Sins of the Past," "Lords of the Night," "The Rose of Winter," "The Ides of December," "Gifts of the Magi," "Season of Wonder," "Winds of Change," "Edge of Darkness," "The Mask of Arcana," "The Swords of Kali," "Lord of Illusions," "Stir of Shadows," "Path of Shadows," "King of Fools," "Days of Olde," "The Path of No Return," "Ritual of Fire," Season of the Witch, Shadow of the Raven, "Spirits of the Past," "Rites of Passage," Carnival of Lost Souls, Phantoms of the High Seas, Theater of Illusion, Blood of the Dragon, Legion of Shadows, and "Heart of Darkness."
• Zombie Apocalypse: The plot of Zombie Influx.

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