Darklore Manor

Last updated

Darklore Manor
Darklore Manor.jpg
Studio album by
Nox Arcana
ReleasedDecember 15, 2003
Genre Gothic, Dark ambient, Dark wave
Label Monolith Graphics
Nox Arcana chronology
Darklore Manor
(2003)		 Necronomicon
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Chain D.L.K.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [1]
Fangoria Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
Flames RisingStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [3]

Darklore Manor is the debut album by neoclassical darkwave musical duo Nox Arcana. It released on December 15, 2003 on the Monolith Graphics label. It features a style of music that bears a similarity to Joseph Vargo's earlier work on the album Born of the Night with Midnight Syndicate, a group that he helped to establish in 1998 prior to his founding of Nox Arcana. [4] [5]

Contents

Musical style & story

The music on Darklore Manor consists of piano, violin, pipe organ, harpsichord, with vocal choirs and brief ghostly narrations that invite the listener to "embark on a musical journey throughout the haunted halls of a Victorian mansion". The accompanying booklet features a history about the Darklore family and their "stark and grim abode" of which its "former splendor was lost to the ravages of time" and where "spirits of the dead do not rest easy."

The album was inspired by a real-life haunted house located near Salem, Massachusetts, an old Victorian mansion built in 1889. According to local legend, a curse befell the Darklore family, resulting in many mysterious deaths. Then in 1941, the last of the bloodline, Damon Darklore, his wife Elizabeth, and their daughter Belladonna disappeared without any explanation. [6]

Over the years, the abandoned Darklore Manor became a local haunt, something to scare kids on Halloween and a place for daring teenagers to hang out. In 1968, three teens disappeared after holding a seance there on Halloween. The old manor finally burned to the ground in 1971. [7]

Darklore Manor has inspired others to create haunted houses using the music and storyline as the basis for their Halloween attractions, [8] including the Busch Gardens "Howl-O-Scream" theme park in Tampa, Florida, which features a haunted wedding with Darklore Manor as the setting and atmosphere. [9] [10]

Expanding upon the haunted house story created for the album's liner notes, Joseph Vargo later wrote a novella entitled "The Legend of Darklore Manor." It appears among 12 other short horror stories in the book The Legend of Darklore Manor and Other Tales of Terror. [2] [11] [12]


Track listing

  1. "Legend" — 1:49
  2. "Darklore Manor" — 2:27
  3. "Threshold of the Dead" — 1:18
  4. "Trespassers" — 2:52
  5. "Veil of Darkness" — 1:55
  6. "Sanctuary of Shadows" — 3:12
  7. "The Grande Hall" — 1:55
  8. "Remnants" — 2:06
  9. "Phantom Procession" — 1:46
  10. "Belladonna" — 2:41
  11. "Nursery Rhyme" — 0:40
  12. "Music Box" — 2:08
  13. "The Forgotten" — 2:44
  14. "Nightmare" — 1:56
  15. "No Rest for the Wicked" — 3:12
  16. "Omen" — 0:43
  17. "Seance" — 2:56
  18. "Beyond Midnight" — 3:04
  19. "Darkness Immortal" — 3:39
  20. "Incantation" — 1:55
  21. "Resurrected" — 7:13

In 2008, Nox Arcana announced they had filed suit against German rapper Bushido for copying their music on his album Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück (2006) without permission. The album, which ranked Platinum on the German charts contained three musical works from Nox Arcana: "Beyond Midnight" and "No Rest for the Wicked" from Darklore Manor and the song "Cthulhu Rising" from Necronomicon . Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück was pulled from major retailers like iTunes and Amazon worldwide. [13] [14]

References

  1. ↑ Chain D.L.K. review
  2. 1 2 Alexandra Nakelski (May 6, 2004). "Music of the dead on Darklore Manor CD". Fangoria Magazine. Archived from the original on May 7, 2005.
  3. ↑ Flames Rising review of Darklore Manor
  4. ↑ "Interview with Joseph Vargo" (PDF). Gaming Report. December 2004. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  5. ↑ Ray Van Horn, Jr. (February 2005). "Legends Magazine review of Darklore Manor". Archived from the original on October 25, 2005.
  6. ↑ Devon, King (January 2004), "Darklore Manor: America's Most Haunted House" (PDF), Dark Realms Magazine, retrieved August 25, 2009
  7. ↑ "A History of Darklore Manor". Nox Arcana. 2004. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  8. ↑ Dandurant, Karen (October 23, 2008). "Tour Darklore Manor — if you dare". Seacoastonline.com. Portsmouth, ME.: Ottaway Newspapers. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011.
  9. ↑ Koster, Rick (October 7, 2008), "Nox Arcana: Music for the dead of night", The Day, New London, CT., archived from the original on October 8, 2008
  10. ↑ Koster, Rick (October 7, 2008), "More With Nox Arcana's Joseph Vargo", The Day, New London, CT., archived from the original on October 8, 2008
  11. ↑ "Prepare for The Legend of Darklore Manor". Fangoria.com. November 26, 2008. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008.
  12. ↑ Vargo, Joseph (2008). The Legend of Darklore Manor and Other Tales of Terror. Monolith Graphics. p. 216. ISBN   9780978885762 . Retrieved August 25, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Nox Arcana ripped off by rapper". Fangoria. September 26, 2008. Archived from the original on January 14, 2010.
  14. ↑ "German rapper 'Bushido' steals from American Gothic group Nox Arcana". Sideline Magazine. Archived from the original on October 8, 2008.
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