Search - Nox Arcana :: Transylvania

A sublime musical homage to Bram Stoker's legendary night-st

John Rossi | Somers Point, NJ United States | 02/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In all respect to other Gothic musicians, Nox Arcana has become in a mere year's time my favorite maestros of the macabre. Their stupendous musical opus is a tribute that in my mind would have made Bram Stoker himself very very proud.



1. Transylvania Overture - Soft choral tones begin this. Soon, a gently flowing melody with keyboards carries the following narration:



"Darkness descends upon the land to wrap the world in night's black embrace. The restless dead stir within their ancient tombs, and creatures born of shadow rise to quench their savage hungers. Whispers echo from the crypt, beckoning with the promise of dark desire, and those who heed their call are forever lost in the night". After that , a pipe organ and soft strings, along with darkly regal choir, segue into what I call in my own mind "Dracula's theme". It is somber, yet poignant and beautiful. It is brilliant.



2- The Voyage - A swirling harp melody combines with majestic strings, drums, choir and pipe organ to tell the story of our journey through the countryside of Vlad Dracula's beautiful rugged land. The tune is grand, adventurous and epic.



3- Gossamer Mist- This piece is primarily piano driven with the sound of wind and soft choral vocal effects underneath it.



4. The Black Coach-This tune is beautiful, ominous and heavy. It begins with pounding strings and drums which in pacing resemble a heartbeat. The string melody later turns sweeping and darkly regal, combining with numerous 'hits' on piano, powerful choral notes, and the sound of thunder. It expertly conveys the dread of making the journey towards Dracula's castle



5. Sentinels Of Stone- This is a 'narrative' track. After a brief sound of stone scraping, we hear a deep gravelly voice say "We are the sentinels of stone. We are the guardians at the gateway of shadows. We are the watchers in the night. None shall tresspass here."



6. Into The Shadows- I see this as a companion piece to The Black Coach. It uses quick strings, choir, and hints of percussion to take us the rest of the way to 'meet' Count Dracula at his castle...seguing perfectly into:



7. Castle Dracula- This is my favorite piece on the disc. It is, in essence a reprise of part of tune in Transylvania Overture. I do NOT mean that in a bad way though. This is, in a sense, what I call "Dracula's Theme" I LOVE the way the slow and stately pipe organ creates a bed to carry a beatuful current of majestic choir, tolling bells and exquisite wordless female voice. To me, this respresents most perfectly the chilling yet noble and terrifying grandeur of Dracula's ancient fortress home.



8. Visitors In The Night- This is primarily a vocal track. There is the sound of soft vocal moans and whispered female voice, culminating with a line from Stoker's novel. "You are first and we shall follow"... Then as if to the listener, the female vampires intone. "Surrender.... you belong to us. This goes right into:



9. Brides To Darkness- A musical homage to Dracula's three vampire brides, this piece uses exquisite femal vocal harmony, combined with keys and harpsichord to convey the ethereal deadly beauty and melancholy lonely existence of the trio of vampiric vixens.



10. Grande Masquerade- Harpsichord, keys, choir, strings, drums and tolling bells appear here, in a tune that seems to be JUST about right for a stately waltz to be danced with king of night's creatures... if you dare to dance with the Count or with his lovely brides at all, that is.



11. Momento Mori - This uses what seems to be either a xylophone or chimes, combined with tolling bells and softest currents of a choir. The feeling is one of pure beauty, but laden heavily with melancholy, isolation, and loneliness. Still it is a lovly piece.



12. The Howling- This uses ominous choral moaning to carry the sounds of the growls and howling of werewolves. It features Count Dracula's famous line "Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make."



13. Nocturne- Piano, strings, and choir do the honors here, telling through a beautiful but somber tune of the falling of night. Tolling bells put in a nice appearance.



14. Bats In The Belfry- This one is just what you might thing. Tolling bells mate with the sounds of bats screeching softly as the flutter into flight. This segues directly into:



15. Gothic Sanctum- Tolling bells return, mixing with choir to form a melody that hints at a sanctuary for night's creatures, where denizens of the night might gather to pay homage to the king of vampires.



16. Gypsy Caravan- This tune is surprisingly pretty, and speaks of exoticism and adventure. Middle-Eastern style percussion dances with keyboards and tamborines to hint at the exotic realm in which Dracula lives, and the others that inhabit it with him.



17. From Dusk Till Dawn - What sounds for a moment like wind and soft choral 'moaning' carries this narration in a sort of a witch-like voice: "From dusk till dawn beware night's call. For nightmares rise as shadows fall. Wolves howl and wail neath moonlit skies, and grim things hearken to their cries. The restless dead and souls forsaken, from their deathly sleep awaken. And things that shun the light of day, prowl the night in search of prey."



18 Night Of The Wolf- Heavy and ominous. It features brooding but grand strings, pounding percussion and chilling choral chant and song.



19. Echoes From The Crypt- Swirling strings, tolling bells and soft choir mate with piano and percussion to give a feel of wandering into the resting place of one of Dracula's minions.



20. Shadow Hunters- The strings, percussion and choir, mixing again with tolling bells, give this tune a martial sound, hinting either at you hunting Dracula and his minions, or perhaps at Dracula and his minions hunting you... Which is right is up to you to determine.



21- Lair Of The Vampire: At last we visit darkness' heart. Beware, ye who dare to venture where angels fear to tread. After a welcome from female vampires, pounding percussion and keys mix with choir and quick toccata pipe organ passages to depict the final battle between Dracula and humankind.... but... in the end.... is it really over? Latin incantations and chanting , combined with percussion and wordless choral melody indicate that...maybe... just maybe... it isn't over after all. *laughs eerily with a deep bass voice.*



To close, Nox Arcana are, to me, the undisputed champions of Gothic horror musical soundscapes. This musical tribute to Dracula is first rate. If you love Gothic horror music you simply cannot go wrong with this CD. Pick it up. Happy listening, and God bless."

Vampire country

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 05/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Books don't usually have soundtracks. "Dracula" definitely didn;t.



But when listening to Nox Arcana's "Transylvania," all I could think of was Bram Stoker's quintessential vampire, and the hauntingly creepy atmosphere of the book. The band forms plenty of rich neoclassical tunes, around a hazy storyline about (what else?) vampires.



It opens with a creepy organ, some smooth violins sweeping up from behind. A deep voice intones, "Darkness descends upon the land, wrap the world in night's black embrace... the restless dead stir within their ancient tombs, and creatures born of shadow rise to quench their savage hunger..." Imagine Bela Lugosi rising from a coffin.



It's followed up by some warmup songs -- the darkly enticing "Voyage," which expands out into an epic, eerie sweep, and the ghostly piano of "Gossamer Mist." The songs that follow are just as richly imagined -- ghostly fast-paced strings, magnificently dark organ and grim gypsy music, laced with church bells, shimmering vocals and ghostly little breezes.



Listening to "Transylvania" is like walking slowly through a cobwebbed, shadowy castle, and listening to Dracula playing a pipe organ in a dusty ballroom, with his brides singing accompaniment. It's not too hard to imagine that you're Jonathan Harker, after hearing songs like "Echoes From the Crypt."



Their music is an lush dusty tapesty of gothic instrumentation. Rich, hollow organ, shimmering harp, strings both windy and rapid, fast-moving percussion, a delicate piano, and some dark shimmers of keyboard all blend together into haunting slow-turning melodies. And as if that weren't good enough, they sprinkle the music with the flutter of bat wings, church bells, ghostly murmurs, and delicate music-box tinkles.



Fortunately Nox Arcana doesn't wreck all this eerie atmosphere with typical singing. Instead we get the occasional deep-voiced intonations, sort of like the introduction. And there are some delicate female vocals -- they murmur softly one minute, only to rise into echoing, wordless solos the next. It's absolutely stunning.



Nox Arcana's "Transylvania" does a brilliant job of capturing the ideal vampire-gothic atmosphere -- creepy and beautifully refined, with no kitschiness. The ideal soundtrack to Bram Stoker's classic (not to mention Halloween)."

Phenomenal !!!

Mandragora | New Orleans, LA | 11/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Embark on a voyage into the dark and mysterious lands of Transylvania, where the children of the night do indeed make beautiful music. This cd will haunt you, thrill you and at times chill you to the bone. The compositions range from eerie piano melodies of "Nocturne" and "Gossamer Mist" to the to the pipe organ refrains of "Castle Dracula" and the brooding orchestrations and chanting that fill "Night of the Wolf." "Grande Masquerade" and "Gothic Sanctum" will more than satisfy any dark music lover's classical appetite, while "Gypsy Caravan" has a mystical percussive rhythm that is musically hypnotic. Several creepy vocal interludes accent the story to further immerse you in this macabre and shadowy realm. Creatures of the night howl at the full moon and unearthly voices of sentinel gargoyles warn trespassers away while the whispers of Dracula's brides lure the listener deeper into the lair of the vampire. This is a phenomenal cd that is the perfect soundtrack to any dark soul's gothic dreams or nightmares."