| Theater of Illusion | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 15, 2010 | |||
| Genre | Gothic, Dark cabaret, Dark ambient, Neoclassical dark wave, New-age | |||
| Label | Monolith Graphics | |||
| Nox Arcana chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Fangoria Magazine |  [1] |
| Metal Maven | [2] |
| Metal Sound | [3] |
Theater of Illusion is the fourteenth album by musical duo Nox Arcana's. Its theme is that of an old theater haunted by a masked magician. The album is a popular source of music for professional illusionists. [4]
The world-famous and mysterious masked magician named Doctor Arcana captured global attention with his astounding illusions and spectacular, death-defying escapes. However, at the peak of his career, the magician vanished without a trace under mysterious circumstances. Several rumors began circulating, concerning his whereabouts and fate, but the truth remains a mystery to the present day.
A Gothic mansion at a secluded country estate once served as Doctor Arcana's home. Since the magician's disappearance, there have been reports of strange sounds and shadows from within the sprawling mansion, but no living soul has been able to gain entry to investigate the matter, and Arcana Manor has stood abandoned and undisturbed for more than two decades. Unknown to many, a hidden theater lies within the dark manor. This venue, hidden from the outside world, is where master magicians gather to display their talents every Halloween night.
In 2018, Joseph Vargo released a video game based on the album's theme and story, entitled The Cabinets of Doctor Arcana. The challenge is to resolve a maze of riddles and perplexing puzzles in order to avoid spending eternity locked inside the inescapable mansion. [5]
A sequel, entitled Doctor Arcana and The Secret of Shadowspire, will be released in Fall 2023.
Nox Arcana is the American neoclassical dark wave, dark ambient musical project of Joseph Vargo. It was founded in 2003 as a duo with William Piotrowski, who left in 2008 to pursue a career in film score composing but still acts as its studio engineer whereas Vargo continued on as a solo act under the name. According to the Nox Arcana biography, the name in Latin translates to "mysteries of the night," but actually translates to "mysterious night;" "mysteries of the night" would translate to arcāna noctis.
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.
Winter's Knight is the third album by gothic duo Nox Arcana. The album peaked at #8 on Billboard Magazine's Music Charts for Top Holiday Albums of 2006 and 2007.
Blood of the Dragon is the seventh album by Nox Arcana, incorporating an interactive puzzle. The music is mainly instrumental, with a classical, symphonic, and at times tribal Celtic sound. The music is interspersed with brief narrations and sound effects that relate a tale of high fantasy.
Necronomicon is the second album by Neoclassical darkwave/dark ambient musical duo Nox Arcana published by Monolith Graphics on October 10, 2004. The music is inspired by the stories of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and is a tribute to the Cthulhu Mythos.
Transylvania is the fourth album by gothic duo Nox Arcana. This album is a musical tribute to Bram Stoker's Dracula. The duo employs their musical storytelling concept to take their listeners through chapters of the classic novel—beginning with Jonathan Harker's voyage into the Carpathian Mountains, a ride in Dracula's ominous black coach, arriving at Castle Dracula, a rendezvous with Dracula's brides, and a foray into a gypsy encampment, and finally into the lair of the vampire.
Carnival of Lost Souls is the fifth album by Dark ambient musical duo Nox Arcana, loosely based on the novel Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. On this album, Nox Arcana performs a style of music that is indicative of a late 19th-early 20th century circus or Vaudeville act, albeit with a darker, more sinister tone and effect.
Shadow of the Raven is the eighth album by gothic duo Nox Arcana. This time the composers Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski honor Edgar Allan Poe, the author of "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Fall of the House of Usher, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and other tales of suspense and horror, as well as the famous poem "The Raven". Nox Arcana's Shadow of the Raven was cited in the academic book Handbook of Intermediality: Literature - Image - Sound - Music in reference to the vast legacy of Poe's works in music.
Grimm Tales is the ninth studio album by gothic musical duo Nox Arcana. Like several of their other albums, this music is also inspired by classic literature. In this case, the folktales of the Brothers Grimm. Instrumentation includes piano, violin, cello, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, and various wind and percussive instruments, which serve to establish the intended theme. In keeping with the dark fairy tale theme, ominous narrations from a "Witch Queen" and the deep, resonant voice of her male counterpart are featured on several tracks, as well as the raspy voice of an aging Crone as she invokes a magical spell.
Phantoms of the High Seas is the tenth album by dark ambient duo Nox Arcana. The theme of the album is pirate lore and stories of ghost ships. Instrumentation includes deep bass horns, pounding drums, string instruments, and narration by Joseph Vargo telling the tale of a doomed pirate vessel called The Tempest. The instrumentals are accompanied by sound effects that include a howling wind and the snap of sails, the sound of creaking as of a wooden boat left derelict at sea, an eerie yet alluring chorus like that of a siren calling sailors to their doom, male voices of the ship's crew as they call out to the beat of a dirge while rowing, and thunderous sounds of cannon fire.
Blackthorn Asylum is the eleventh album by dark ambient duo Nox Arcana. The musical theme is described as being "set in an abandoned sanitarium for the criminally insane where the doctors conducted horrible experiments on the inmates." Nox Arcana once again pays homage to H.P. Lovecraft as they did with their second album Necronomicon, stating "We set Blackthorn Asylum in the 1930s and revisit the dark domain of H.P. Lovecraft. The plot builds upon Lovecraft’s short story "From Beyond" and adds some creepy new twists." And, as with almost every other album this band has released, this album conceals a puzzle, along with a storyline that expounds upon Lovecraft's story.
Blood of Angels is a musical collaboration by Michelle Belanger and Neoclassical dark wave musical duo Nox Arcana. It released over label Monolith Graphics on October 13, 2006. This album is also the sixth release by Nox Arcana and also their second release in 2006.
Winter's Eve is the thirteenth studio album and second Christmas-themed album by Nox Arcana. It was released in 2009 on Monolith Graphics. Apart from traditional music for the Christmas season, the theme of this album evokes a medieval or pagan Yuletide celebration typical of the winter solstice.
House of Nightmares is a collaboration album by Joseph Vargo of Nox Arcana and Jeff Hartz of Buzz-Works. It is the fifteenth release from Nox Arcana. The theme of the album is that of an old manor house next to a cemetery haunted by the spirits of the dead whose presence is most evident on October 30, the Devil's Night, and Halloween night.
The Dark Tower is the sixteenth concept album by Nox Arcana, released as the soundtrack for The Dark Tower book series by Joseph Vargo.
Winter's Majesty is the seventeenth album by Nox Arcana, concluding their winter-themed trilogy, which also includes Winter's Knight (2005) and Winter's Eve (2009).
Legion of Shadows is the eighteenth album by Nox Arcana, marking their 10-year anniversary. The album was announced as a dedication to their fans, and was one of two albums that Nox Arcana released in 2013 on Halloween — the second being Crimson Winter , William Piotrowski's first solo project and score for the vampire film Crimson Winter.
Ebonshire is the 27th album released by Nox Arcana. It is a collection of songs from 5 earlier volumes in a series of winter holiday EPs inspired by Nox Arcana's holiday music trilogy: Winter's Knight (2005), Winter's Eve (2009), and Winter's Majesty (2012), which are each set in a fantasy realm called Ebonshire. This full-length release includes 4 new tracks.
Gothic is the 22nd concept album by Nox Arcana. The album opens with an introductory narration, describing terms of an inheritance of an old gothic mansion called Grimstone Manor. The story described in narrative form and in the liner notes contains elements of danger and romance like that of a 19th-century Gothic novel. Musically, the album features Nox Arcana's brand of dark ambient music, with the use of pipe organ, violins, harpsichord, piano, choirs, and other instrumentation, representing a musical journey through the haunted mansion.
Season of the Witch is the 25th album released by Nox Arcana on October 1, 2017. The theme centers around a coven of witches that gather each Halloween night at place called "Raven's Hollow", which is a setting mentioned in the book series The Dark Tower by Joseph Vargo. The first track features a narration that sounds like an old woman casting a spell, which continues later in the bonus track. The music features piano, harpsichord, drums, symbols, tolling bells and violins, with vocal choirs.
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