| Carnival of Lost Souls | |
| Type: | Studio album |
| Artist: | Nox Arcana |
| Cover: | Carnival_of_Lost_Souls.jpg |
| Released: | June 6, 2006 |
| Genre: | Gothic, Dark cabaret, Dark ambient, Dark wave |
| Label: | Monolith Graphics |
| Prev Title: | Transylvania |
| Prev Year: | 2005 |
| Next Title: | Blood of Angels |
| Next Year: | 2006 |
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.[1]
In 2017, Carnival Of Lost Souls was ranked by Pretty Famous on MSN at #101 for Best Album of All Time. Nox Arcana made the list with other influential musical artists including The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and The Ramones.[2]
Their "Calliope" song, for example, is a pipe organ melody that is performed more like a dirge than something festive, and the song "Madame Endora" is a narrative piece featuring the gravely voice of a fortune-teller who warns the listener that "a storm is coming" and to "beware." Other tracks are accented with sound effects of things that one might hear in the encampment of a traveling circus: the tormented, bitter screams of the freaks in the sideshow, the sound of the ringmaster or carnival barker, the cracking of a whip, the distant roaring of animals and rattling of chains. The track "Snake Charmer" combines an exotic drumbeat with wind pipes and finger cymbals, along with the sound of a rattlesnake.
The song "Spellbound" is the only song on the album with full lyrics and male vocals. It was recorded twice on the CD; once as a scratchy-crackly-sounding record, like something played on an old Victrola machine, then as a goth/metal version on a hidden track at the end of the CD.[3]
Nox Arcana hosted a CD release party that coincided with the album release date of 6-6-06 and played up the superstitions surrounding that date with a horror-carnival atmosphere. The rock version of "Spellbound" was performed live.[4] [5]
Carnival of Lost Souls is one of three albums Nox Arcana recorded during a one-year span. Prior to this they released two full-length albums each year.
Music from Carnival of Lost Souls is regularly featured at the Knott's Scary Farm haunted attraction, "Carnevil".[6] [7]