''Blood of the Dragon'' is the seventh album by

Nox Arcana 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 eng ...

, incorporating an interactive puzzle. The music is mainly instrumental, with a classical,

symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

, and at times tribal

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

sound. The music is interspersed with brief narrations and sound effects that relate a tale of

high fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, Pl ...

. The overall theme is laden with elements popularized in

sword and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tale ...

stories and games, such as wizards,

warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

elves An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

, dwarves and

trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

. These and other

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

archetypes are represented visually in the artwork that accompanies the disc, and are also strongly suggested by the musical compositions. The instrumentation includes heavy-sounding

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Nor ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

, and features appropriate sound effects such as war horns, deeply reverberating chants, swords clashing, chainmail clanking and the war cries and stamping feet of what sounds like thousands of men heading into battle. The album begins and ends with some brief narration in the manner of furthering the story.

took their concepts of musical storytelling even further with ''Blood of the Dragon'' by incorporating an actual

quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ever ...

into their music and CD packaging. The booklet features artwork and puzzle designs by Joseph Vargo. The songs provide hints to set the listener/player upon their quest. The consensus from reviewers and fans of the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' games is that ''Blood of the Dragon'' is "one of the best ''Dungeons & Dragons'' style soundtracks" and exceeds the listener's expectations. The music has been recommended as an alternative or complementary soundtrack for movies like ''

Conan The Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

'', ''

The 13th Warrior ''The 13th Warrior'' is a 1999 American historical fiction action film based on Michael Crichton's 1976 novel ''Eaters of the Dead'', which is a loose adaptation of the tale of ''Beowulf'' combined with Ahmad ibn Fadlan's historical account of the ...

'', and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

''.Customer Reviews at Amazon.com
/ref>

Track listing

Music composed and performed by Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski. #"Ancient Legacy" — 1:34 #"The Quest Begins — 3:29 #"Citadel of Secrets" — 3:05 #"Sorcerer" — 2:38 #"Treasure of the Four Crowns" — 3:11 #"Highland Storm" — 3:52 #"Mist Loch" — 2:57 #"Underworld" — 3:31 #"The Mystic’s Keep" — 4:01 #"Stygian Depths" — 1:15 #"Legions of Darkness" — 2:46 #"Steeds of Thunder" — 3:28 #"Rogue’s Hollow" — 1:15 #"Warrior’s Dawn" — 4:13 #"The Siege" — 3:51 #"Dragon Riders" — 3:08 #"Flame Tongue" — :57 #"Defenders of the Realm" — 4:28 #"Chamber of the Immortals" — 1:39 #"Blood of the Dragon" — 3:11 #"Eternal Champions" — 7:33 * The song "Eternal Champions" ends at 4:20, but there are two untitled hidden tracks: The first hidden track starts at 4:45 and ends at 5:40; the second hidden track starts at 5:55 and ends at 7:33.

References

External links

Nox Arcana's official website
* ''Blood of the Dragon''at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{Authority control Nox Arcana albums 2006 albums