Hard Nox by Nox Arcana

Nox Arcana switches gears to create Hard Nox— an electrifying album of haunting ballads and melodic hard-driving rock.

As a lifelong fan of rock and metal, Joseph Vargo set out to create an album to reflect his musical roots. Meghan Walsh and Jim Hamar lend their vocals to several songs on the project, while some of the other tracks feature Vargo's own vocals. Joe Pangrace lays down some shredding guitar work to give the album a definitive hard rock edge. The musical styles range from haunting ballads to melodic alternative rock to industrial darkwave and straight-on rockers.

There will be more rock releases in the future, amidst more traditional Nox Arcana releases.

Tracklist

1.	Departure / All Systems Go	4:14

2.	Machines	3:42

3.	For What It's Worth	3:21

4.	Mask	3:56

5.	Phantom Zone	3:10

6.	Beyond The Crimson Gate	3:50

7.	Ghosts	3:26

8.	Xenomorph	3:59

9.	Morpheus	3:30

10.	Bad Blood	3:20

11.	Six Feet Deep	3:16

12.	Wicked Cool	3:26

13.	Without You	2:56

Credits

released October 24, 2025

Meghan Walsh — Vocals on "Mask", "Beyond The Crimson Gate", "Morpheus", "Six Feet Deep" and "Without You"
Joseph Vargo — All music. Vocals on "Departure", "Machines", "Ghosts", and "Bad Blood", backing vocals on "For What It's Worth"
Jim Hamar — Vocals on "For What It's Worth", backing vocals on "Bad Blood"
Christine Filipak — Vocals on "Departure"
Joe Pangrace — Lead Guitar on "All Systems Go", "For What It's Worth", "Phantom Zone" and "Wicked Cool"

Produced by Joseph Vargo
Engineered and mastered by Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski
All music and lyrics written and recorded by Joseph Vargo
"Mask" lyrics by Joseph Vargo and Skyler Cook
"Morpheus" lyrics by Joseph Vargo and Meghan Walsh
Artwork by Joseph Vargo
Design and layout by Christine Filipak

License