Necronomicon

Necronomicon
Studio album by Nox Arcana
Released	October 10, 2004
Genre	Dark Ambient
Label	Monolith Graphics
Nox Arcana chronology
Darklore Manor (2003) Necronomicon (2004) Winter's Knight (2005)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Fangoria Magazine	[1]
Flames Rising	[2]
Temple of Dagon	[3]

Necronomicon is the second album by gothic horror 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.^[4]

Theme

Orchestra, string instruments, drums, pipes, guitars and choirs are accented by ominous chanting, strange sound effects and brief narratives that combine to tell the story of an alchemist who dares to raise an ancient race of otherworldly beings.^[5]

The "language of the Old Ones" developed by Lovecraft as a literary plot element but considered by many to be unpronouncable, is effectively spoken aloud by Joseph Vargo on several of the tracks. Vargo, who is a huge fan of Lovecraft's work, also illustrated the CD packaging to appear as he imagined the famed fictional book to be from Lovecraft's descriptions.^[6]

A hidden track on the CD also contains a backward masking of the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto", a well-known quote from the film The Day the Earth Stood Still and Army of Darkness, which in turn borrowed thematic elements from Lovecraft.

Some of the songs titles are also titles of Lovecraft stories, such as "The Nameless City" and "The Haunter of the Dark", while others song titles such as Azathoth, Dagon, Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones are the names of gods, demons or other supernatural entities from Lovecraft's fiction. A chapter in the book, The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft was devoted to this album. ^[7]

Controversy

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. The album, which contains three musical works by Nox Arcana (two songs from Darklore Manor and the song "Cthulhu Rising"), ranked Platinum on the German charts. Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück was pulled from major retailers like iTunes and Amazon worldwide.^{[8] [9] [10]}

Track listing

1. "Mythos" — 1:58
2. "The Nameless City" — 3:38
3. "Alhazred’s Vision" — 2:55
4. "Necronomicon" — 2:03
5. "Ancient Shadows" — 2:28
6. "Azathoth" — :28
7. "The Black Throne" — 2:01
8. "Nyarlathotep" — :40
9. "Temple of The Black Pharaoh 3:50
10. "Eldritch Rites" — 1:33
11. "The Haunter of The Dark" — 2:38
12. "The Awakening" — 2:59
13. "Yog-sothoth" — 1:00
14. "Guardian of The Gate" — 3:26
15. "Lords of Darkness" — 2:08
16. "Dagon" — :35
17. "The Stars Align" — 1:57
18. "Cthulhu" — :55
19. "Ritual Of Summoning" — 1:21
20. "Cthulhu Rising" — 2:38
21. "The Great Old Ones" — 4:06 *hidden track

External links

• Nox Arcana official website
• Discovery of the Necronomicon (Nox Arcana's "Legends" page).
• The Necronomicon Mythos (Nox Arcana's "Legends" page)
• Nox Arcana on Myspace
• All Music Guide

References

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