''Grimm Tales'' is the ninth studio album by gothic musical duo

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 ...

. Like several of their other albums, this music is also inspired by classic literature. In this case, the folktales of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

. Instrumentation includes piano, violin, cello, acoustic guitar,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

, and various wind and percussive instruments, which serve to establish the intended theme. In keeping with the dark

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

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 In folklore, a crone is an old woman who may be characterized as disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructive. The Crone is also an archetypal fig ...

as she invokes a

magical spell An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremon ...

. Artist and composer Joseph Vargo also wrote an original

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...

for this cd. Expressed in poetic verse, it tells of a wicked Witch Queen who has cast a spell upon the land of

Faerie Fairyland (''Faerie'', Scottish ''Elfame'', c.f. Old Norse ''Álfheimr'') in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or ''fays''. Old French (Early Modern English ) referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land ...

, condemning its inhabitants to a never-ending darkness, and two children who fall asleep one night to awaken in the dark realm. The wayward children set out upon a quest to find a magical "Crystal Key" which is rumored to open a gateway between the "Realm of Fable" and their home. The release date for this album coincides with

Walpurgis Night Walpurgis Night (), an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German ), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve (alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve), is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in ...

. Universal Studios' "Halloween Horror Nights" in Orlando, Florida based their 2008 haunted attraction design, "Scary Tales: Once Upon A Nightmare", on the realm of fable explored in Nox Arcana's ''Grimm Tales'' album.

Tracks

Music composed and performed by Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski. # "Fable" — 2:03 # "Twilight" — 2:56 # "Once Upon a Nightmare" — 3:58 # "Shadow Forest" — 3:49 # "Eyes in the Dark" — 2:58 # "The Hollow" — 1:11 # "Sylvan Spirits" — 2:45 # "Wicked Heart" — 2:50 # "Conjuration" — 1:49 # "Night Wraiths" — 2:30 # "Deep in the Woods" — 2:21 # "The Forgotten Path" — 5:05 # "Fairy Tale" — 2:09 # "Crone’s Caverns" — 2:42 # "Rise to Destiny" — 3:16 # "Labyrinth of Dreams" — 2:53 # "Castle of Nightmares" — 4:01 # "Hall of the Witch Queen" — 3:21 # "Ave Sinistra" — 4:27 # "Black Spires" — 2:52 # "Darkly Everafter" — 3:28 :A

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

features a short dialogue between an evil queen and her magic mirror.

References

External links

Nox Arcana official website
* ''Grimm Tales''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 ...

Nox Arcana albums 2008 albums Works based on Grimms' Fairy Tales {{2000s-album-stub