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Gothic, but not gothic "rock"
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[[Category:American classical musical groups]]
[[Category:American classical musical groups]]
[[Category:Ambient music groups]]
[[Category:Ambient music groups]]

Revision as of 12:15, 11 October 2009

Nox Arcana

Nox Arcana is an American gothic horror musical group, formed in 2003 by Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski. Their music has dark overtones and bears some stylistic resemblance to certain subgenres of New Age and Gothic music. Their Winter's Knight album, released in 2005, ranked as high as #8 on the Billboard chart for Top Holiday Albums. [1] Their music is used by theme parks such as Busch Gardens, Knott's Scary Farm and Universal Studios during Halloween for scenes and haunted houses based upon Nox Arcana album themes.[2] [3] Nox Arcana cites gothic fiction and classic horror literature as primary sources of inspiration for their concept albums. Such literary references include: H. P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, and Edgar Allan Poe. [4] Some of their albums also make reference to medieval themes and ancient mythology. [5]

Musical characteristics

Nox Arcana is influenced by New Age, classical, ambient music, rock music, and film soundtracks, citing other composers such as John Carpenter, Danny Elfman, AC/DC, Wojciech Kilar, Enya, Loreena McKennitt, Beethoven, Jerry Goldsmith, and Hans Zimmer.[2] [6] [7] [8]

Nox Arcana's music is melodic and moody, focusing on a dominant melody line. Instrumentation varies with each album as appropriate to the theme or time period of the album concept, and typically includes piano, bells, violin, pipe organ, harpsichord, timpani drums and other percussion. [9] Some albums also include cymbals, lutes, acoustic guitars, bagpipes and glockenspiel, depending on the theme of a given album. Enforcing the theme and the narrative is the use of sound effects, such as, for instance, a door creaking or a pendulum swinging on the Poe-inspired Shadow of the Raven.[10] Vocals and narratives are also used sparingly to help relate a story or serve as introduction to a musical piece, for example, the voice of "Jonathan Harker" and whispered female voices of "Dracula's brides" that beckon to the listener, a carnival barker with the indistinct sounds of an audience in the distance, or "Edgar Allan Poe" and a voice calling out from the grave after being prematurely buried, the gravelly voice of a "witch" casting a spell, and a variety of low Gregorian-style chanting and ethereal choirs.[9]

Discography

Date of release Title Label Billboard peak
2003-12-15 Darklore Manor Monolith
2004-10-10 Necronomicon Monolith
2005-07-10 Winter's Knight Monolith #8
2005-10-21 Transylvania Monolith
2006-06-06 Carnival of Lost Souls Monolith
2006-10-13 Blood of Angels Monolith
2006-11-27 Blood of the Dragon Monolith
2007-08-20 Shadow of the Raven Monolith
2008-04-30 Grimm Tales Monolith
2008-10-13 Phantoms of the High Seas Monolith
2009-06-21 Blackthorn Asylum Monolith
2009-09-15 Zombie Influx Monolith

Three months after the release of Blackthorn Asylum, the members of Nox Arcana collaborated with Buzz-Works to produce a soundtrack based on a zombie invasion. The album Zombie Influx is performed by Jeff Hartz, co-written and produced by Joseph Vargo, and engineered by William Piotrowski. [11] Nox Arcana also announced their upcoming album Winter's Eve to be released in November 2009.[12] Nox Arcana also announced their upcoming album Winter's Eve to be released in November 2009.[13]

History

Joseph Vargo is a renowned gothic-fantasy artist who has created an extensive portfolio of work ranging from album covers and books to posters, music cds, and other products that are distributed through his publishing company Monolith Graphics. [14] [15] [16] Before forming Nox Arcana in 2003, Joseph Vargo produced two albums for Midnight Syndicate [17] but left the band in 2000 to co-write Tales From The Dark Tower, a book that follows the exploits of a vampire during the First Crusade. [18] He later published Dark Realms magazine and released a best-selling card deck, The Gothic Tarot. [19] William Piotrowski had previously written the score for a video production entitled "Ghosts of Ohio," [20] [17] a video documentary about, Mary Ann Winkowski, a medium who inspired the CBS television show, the Ghost Whisperer.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Billboard Music Charts". Billboard Magazine. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
  2. ^ a b Koster, Rick (October 7, 2008), "Nox Arcana", The Day, New London, CT., retrieved 2008-10-12
  3. ^ Teresenza, Serena (October 2008), "Interview with Joseph Vargo", Gothic Gateways, retrieved 2009-08-26
  4. ^ "Interview with Joseph Vargo, Artist & Musician", Flames Rising, 2006-09-18
  5. ^ "Editorial" (PDF), Echo Immortalis, pp. 31–32, Winter 2007
  6. ^ Haney, Josh (October 2006), "Interview with Nox Arcana", Wicked Karnival Magazine
  7. ^ Pan, Marcus (February 2006, issue 156), "Interview with Nox Arcana", Legends Magazine {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Ioannou, Rania (April 2008), "Interview with Joseph Vargo", Metafysiko: Fantasy Gate, Greece
  9. ^ a b Describing musical characteristics: National Gamers Guild for Darklore Manor, Temple of Dagon for Necronomicon, Christmas Reviews for Winter's Knight, Chain DLK for Transylvania , Draconis Blackthorn for Carnival of Lost Souls, Side-line for Blood of Angels, Paizo Publishing for Blood of the Dragon, Flames Rising for Shadow of the Raven, and Fangoria Musick for Phantoms of the High Seas.
  10. ^ Valentinelli, Monica (2009-04-24). "Review of Shadow of the Raven". Flames Rising. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
  11. ^ "Nox Arcana Contribute to 'Zombie Influx' CD". Fearnet.com. 2009-09-28.
  12. ^ "Zombie Influx info". Buzz-works. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
  13. ^ "Nox Arcana news". August 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
  14. ^ Bennett, Tim (October 30, 2005), "Gothic Empire: Ten Minutes with Joseph Vargo", The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH, p. L3 {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ Joseph Vargo's artist portfolio
  16. ^ Monolith Graphics publisher's website
  17. ^ a b "Interview with Joseph Vargo" (PDF), Gaming Report, 2004-12-23
  18. ^ Vargo, Joseph (2000). Tales From The Dark Tower. Monolith Graphics. p. 280. ISBN 978-0967575605. Retrieved 2009-08-25. {{cite book}}: Check |authorlink= value (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); External link in |authorlink= (help)
  19. ^ Previews starred item, September 2005. The Gothic Tarot ranks #7 of 10 (above Star Wars and Batman card games)
  20. ^ "Renaissance News", Renaissance Magazine, January 2007
  21. ^ MSNBC article on Ghost Whisperer and Local story on Mary Ann Winkowski

Interviews

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