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NOX ARCANA :
DARKLORE MANOR / NECRONOMICON

Here is something a little off the beaten path. Let me introduce you to the dark duo known as "Nox Arcana". The "band" is made up of internationally acclaimed gothic fantasy artist Joseph Vargo (ex- Midnight Syndicate), and William Piotrowski. The music is sort of hard to classify, or to stick into a precise genre. Surely those who dig it will mostly be from the Gothic crowd, but horror movie fans that don't regularly purchase straight-up goth CDs will also find this to their liking. On their two releases so far, the band creates what one might call a dark soundtrack or musical score based on a theme. I have taken to calling such works "Horrorscapes". These works are mostly instrumental, with just a few spoken word portions, or the odd low-key chant thrown in for effect. The first CD, 2003's "Darklore Manor", is based on the tales of a legendary haunted house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, near the infamous town of Salem. The music is sort of mellow and eerie, it ebbs and flows the same way your heart rate would, as you explore the dark corridors of a long abandoned Victorian mansion. The actual mansion has a long history of death, with stories of ghosts, murder, a curse, seances, and mysterious disappearances. Even though the house mysteriously burned to the ground on Halloween night in 1971, people still see things in the area that can't be explained. The second chapter in the Nox Arcana story is a sonic interpretation of the Cthulhu Mythos and the Necronomicon (AKA The Book Of The Dead / The Book Of Dead Names), H.P. Lovecraft's forbidden tome of unspeakable horror. This disk is more bombastic in nature, as instead of creeping around a run down mansion, we are now dealing with the Elder Gods and the Old Ones, and their struggle for supremacy over this world. The band calls it a "dark symphony", and that's a pretty good description. One could also almost call it a dark slice of Prog-Rock. Both CDs, while very different from each other, do a great job at creating, and sustaining an uneasy atmosphere of dread and uncertainty. Much like the atmospheric work of Frank Petruccelli of Petruccelli Productions or David Bagsby. Darklore Manor will slowly build tension and creep under your skin in an almost inconspicuous way. Necronomicon on the other hand is more "in your face", and would make a great soundtrack to the original Lovecraft-inspired computer game "Quake", or the newer creep-fest known as "Doom III". Both however are well worth your time. For more info check out the band's web-lair at noxarcana.com.
RATING = 8.5 (both) Horrorscapes (Released 2003 / 2004)

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