The Haunting Sound of 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, was given a #8 ranking by Billboard for Christmas music.

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. Some of their albums also make reference to medieval themes and ancient mythology.

Nox Arcana takes influence from New Age, Classical and Ambient genres of music. Nox Arcana's music is melodic, focusing on a dominant melody line typically of the Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor or Diminished scale. Other instruments provide fills to keep the listener's interest in the song as well as keeping the haunting atmosphere of the music. Sound effects are also peppered throughout the music to add to the already dark spirit of the music.

Joseph Vargo is a well known gothic-fantasy artist who has created a vast 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. Before forming Nox Arcana in 2003, Joseph Vargo produced two albums for Midnight Syndicate 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. He later published Dark Realms magazine and released a best-selling card deck, The Gothic Tarot. William Piotrowski had previously worked on a video production entitled "Ghosts of Ohio," a video documentary about a medium who inspired the CBS television show, the Ghost Whisperer.

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