By
Kristin Battestella
Longtime
listeners of the themed Nox Arcana gothic and macabre ambiance will
enjoy Joseph Varga and William Piotrowski's 2005 debut foray into
Christmas music with Winter's Knight. Yes,
traditional holiday music audiences may disapprove of the medieval
storytelling here, and the dark concept design is not without its
flaws. However, the Gregorian tone and frosty bitter stylings give
Winter's Knight a
seasonal mood for celebrants not bound by the modern holly
jolly constructs of Christmas.
Howling
winds, church bells, and the short but spooky monologue of Vigil
establish the bleak medieval Yule of Winter's
Knight, and the poetic
brooding segues into the pulsing, ominous rings and chanting chorale
moments in Ghosts of
Christmas Past. Period
strings provide an enchanting sound for Ebonshire
next
– a
wooded, outdoor chilly to match the creepy isolation and heavy chords
of Solitude while
the chimes and eponymous twinkle amid
Crystal Forest create
a glassy, delicate ice ballet. Unfortunately, at four and a half
minutes, First Snow
goes
on too long, padding its harpsichord echoes and angelic, soft mood
before Evening Star
lulls
like a louder escalation on the nighttime bleak from First Snow.
Though it's all kind of pretty, we've been listening to the same
chimes and chants for over seven minutes. Indeed, the first half of
Winter's
Knight suffers
from too many repetitive tracks refraining one too many unnecessary
times. An editor would certainly red pencil a stanza or two here!
Reflections of
Long Ago changes
the atmosphere slightly with a sad, spooky, and bittersweet memory,
however it's tough to appreciate our own childlike reminiscing or
creepy toy recollections thanks to more of the gothic Specter Sound
production laying it on thick.
The
waltzing organ and frenetic storm strings on December
Winds
create a blustery cool, but the welcome, tempestuous orchestration is
again compromised by an incessant aaaahhhhh ahhhhh ahhhhh ahhhh. This
same overproduced design carries over on several Nox Arcana albums,
as if the duo simply won't let a song alone and must keep tinkering
until every session sounds generally the same. Without looking at the
tracks, it's tough to tell where one song ends and another begins –
much less identify a tune by its opening notes. Outside of a precious
few titles, listeners can't randomly put Nox Arcana songs into a
playlist rotation, leaving one no choice but to play the entire
sixty-three minutes of Winter's
Knight
in full. Thankfully, the organ start to
Phantom Toccata is superb,
like a spooky overnight shift at one of those old-fashioned,
multi-floor department stores with a big pipe piece and scary Santa
displays. Is that just me? Winter's
Knight quickly
transitions to the church bells and abandoned cathedral sounds of
Hallowed Ruins,
and while depressing at times, Winter's
Knight has
a very likable concept. I wish there was
a ballet to visualize this lonely winter wonderland journey. It's
only an odd minute, but the eerie vocals of Gregorian
Hymn fit this ancient theme
of music and voices. Yes, it is creepy but the rhythmic sway also
makes for a beautiful period refrain. Rather than falling back on
their familiar style, it might have been quite interesting had Nox
Arcana done an entire album of older carols and traditionals in this
medieval manner.
Comparatively,
Spirit of the Season again
sounds too redundant. Didn't we just hear this same tune five songs
ago? Fortunately, the
recognition of Coventry
Carol helps
Winter's
Knight
heaps. This is the kind of ye olde tune our titular wanderer would
hear, and the connection of listening to something we know as old in
this new spin is the seasonal smooth we expected all along. Often
instrumental or rushed, this rendition provides clearly audible
lyrics, creating a desire to minuet in a morbid jig. Lullaby
continues
this theme, but we just had a well done rhyme – making for another
example of how too many similar songs with too many chants and chimes
can at times become just background noise. The titular arias of
Winter’s Knight,
thankfully, are much
nicer,
providing the album's dark storytelling with somber cords and
melancholy mood as well as calling into question the weaker
soundalikes on the first half of the album. Slicing fifteen minutes
off Winter's
Knight would
improve this tale in song tremendously, and the
Greensleeves invocations, period strings, and Henry VIII source of
Past Time with Good
Company are
simply divine thanks to the lovely female vocals. Here here for an
entire album comprised of such revisited historical odes!
Likewise
God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman is familiar and done right
with a seasonal bleakness and dark times made at ease with a promise
of Light. The organ and chant are brilliant, and we can still sing
along to the bombastic bells. The second half of Winter's Knight
is much more listener friendly
and made much stronger by the Gregorian encapsulation of Veni
Veni Emmanuel. The ghostly past
of the album's theme is felt alongside the longstanding waiting for
which we still light candles and sing songs. Though carrying the
courtly sounds to match, Redemption feels
slightly out of place amid this latter block of known carols – it
may have fit better had it been placed before this spiritual
denouement, as if our knight has found that titular peace and that is
why we hear the subsequent carols. The haunting zest and recognizable
Carol of the Bells anchors the Winter's Knight
finale yet oddly stops at 3:25 with an unnecessary minute long
silence before music box chimes, wind, and ghostly voices conclude
the session. It's a stylistic choice
I suppose, and while the album strays and wanders like its knight and
treads tires in the snow at times, this medieval brooding is how
Winter's Knight should
be.
Occasionally,
uneven sound design makes it tough to hear the
lower background bells or echoes, and thanks to a frequent droning
redundancy in the first half,
Winter's Knight is
almost there, but not quite. I like parts of the opening tunes, but
not the entire track itself. I like Winter's
Knight yet
find myself pausing or skipping through the stock gothic sounds in
favor of the superior medieval
carol recordings.
Though they have done numerous albums since, Winter's
Knight sounds
a lot like Nox Arcana's other
macabre work, making for an odd mix of just right ye olde Yule and
too much Halloween. The commercial holiday creep likes to combine
these two seasons, but Winter's
Knight fits
better with some brooding October distance. This is an after
Christmas album if you
will, purely a windy winter mood setter or the soundtrack to a New
Year's Eve masquerade. Understandably, that generic seasonal may
annoy traditionalists. Despite the carols, there's precious few
Birthly mentions here, as Winter's
Knight is
meant for audiences who don’t
prefer the happy Christmas as is nor celebrate its Christian and
religious aspects. By freeing itself of that December 25 timetable
and the fourth quarter calendar cha ching, the medieval hearkening of
Winter's Knight can
be enjoyed by those of us who keep our holiday well
into January's chill.
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