Nox Arcana - Winter's Knight (CD)

Holiday music with a medieval flair. Celebrate the spirit of the season with Nox Arcana and enter an enchanted realm of ghosts, dark angels and winter magic. This musical ghost story follows the path of a mysterious knight as he wanders the ruins of a haunted cathedral set in the mythical Ebonshire forest. The arrangements on this album incorporate acoustic guitars and mandolins to achieve a medieval minstrel sound. Gregorian choirs, pipe organ, chimes, and violin compliment the moody blend of original instrumentals, while guest vocalists perform gothic renditions of traditional holiday carols, including a foreboding version of the lullaby 'Coventry Carol,' and the minstrel's favorite 'Past Time With Good Company.' Review Beautifully dark Christmas hymns with a gothic touch. A classic masterpiece of timelessness. Certainly appropriate for the holiday season! Be prepared to go back in time to a kingdom far far away. — Livid Looking Glass All the enchantment and beauty of traditional classical Christmas music from the dark side. Very evocative of holiness as well as spine chillingly mysterious.— Morbid Outlook I was delighted with the sophisticated elegance of this enchanted realm. I decided to first listen to this CD on a cross-country train ride, I thought it would be fitting. It was gently raining in the Pacific Northwest and as prehistoric landscapes rolled by, I felt I too was like a knight on a quest of lonely tranquility. My favorite track is 'Ebonshire.' This minstrel piece is a perfect accompaniment of medieval mystique for a journey into the unknown. I love the sound of the harpsichord, and Nox Arcana did not skimp on the medieval instruments, or the length, with over 60 minutes of music. The different sounds and emotions are threaded together with a gothic motif. I love how this album especially, matches Vargo's famous blue-hued illustrations.   If the music on Winter's Knight had visual color, it would definitely be the frost blue of an enigmatic winter in Eastern Europe. The serene silence of winter is illustrated in 'Crystal Forest.' This track sounded like crystal and images of falling snow suspended in time. I pictured an outdoor mysterious masquerade during 'First Snow,' and I could just see the night sky lit up by the blue-hued snow. The chain of thoughts then led me to think I was inside a glass ball with a contrived scene inside that you shake and the snow flutters around. The album then takes a turn to celebrating the holiday season. Guest vocalist Jeff Endemann brings a foreboding comfort to the lullaby 'Coventry Carol.' Nox Arcana's rendition of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' has been the most interesting I have ever heard to date. 'Redemption' and 'Carol of the Bells' are the perfect finale.   The medieval noble knight motif is incorporated into all of the pieces, he is eerie but not evil, and he protects the solace and beauty of this delicate and fragile season. As I visited the frozen tundra, engulfed in fog, on a mountain a mile high in Washington, this soundtrack I heard on my train ride over raced though my mind. I have usually in the past looked forward to summer, but now I look forward to winter.' — Fangoria

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Vigil
2. Ghosts of Christmas Past
3. Ebonshire
4. Solitude
5. Crystal Forest
6. First Snow
7. Evening Star
8. Reflections of Long Ago
9. December Winds
10. Phantom Toccata
11. Hallowed Ruins
12. Gregorian Hymn
13. Spirit of the Season
14. Coventry Carol
15. Lullaby
16. Winter's Knight
17. Past Time with Good Company
18. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
19. Veni, Veni, Emmanuel
20. Redemption
21. Carol of the Bells