Forgotten Shrine is preparing to unveil Nox Aeterna, an ambitious concept album centered around two guardians protecting a sacred shrine devoted to creativity and freedom. Blending death metal, atmospheric and folk elements, unexpected country-pop influences, and a deeply personal narrative, the album explores what happens when the things that make us who we are are pushed aside by the demands of everyday life.
For Sofia, the idea behind Nox Aeterna came from an experience that was much closer to reality than fantasy. During her first semester of law school, stress and time constraints caused her to experience a creative dry spell. It made her realize how essential music was to her identity and how even a few minutes of creative time could make a difference.
That realization became the foundation for the album’s larger message: we have to protect the things that matter to us. In this interview, Sofia discusses the origins of Nox Aeterna, the meaning behind its darkness, the album’s unusual musical turns, the personal stories behind songs like “Dearly Departed,” and why the ending of the record leaves the door open for future adventures.
Nox Aeterna tells the story of two guardians protecting a shrine devoted to creativity and freedom. Where did this concept first come from?
I went through a creative dry spell during my first semester of law school, mainly due to stress and time constraints. After that first semester, I realized that I needed to keep making time for music in some form, even if it was just 15 minutes of practice a few times a week, because that’s what keeps me feeling like myself.
You have to protect, nurture, and make time for the things that matter to you, and that’s essentially what this album is about. If you don’t, you’ll lose yourself.
The album explores preserving a childlike sense of wonder in the face of darkness. Why was that message important for you to tell?
I’ve been returning to a lot of music, books, and hobbies I loved as a kid, and seeing them in a different light as a result. We all have to grow up and do boring adult things at some point, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up the things you love.
When you’re having a bad day and you feel stuck in a world that seems like it wasn’t made for you, you can jump into a world that is. The message of preserving a childlike sense of wonder in the face of darkness is important because it helps you reconnect with yourself.
When you re-emerge, you have a stronger sense of purpose and direction because you understand your own goals and values on a deeper level. In that way, I want our music to feel like a sanctuary and a place to recharge.
Do you see the darkness in the story as a literal force, or is it also a metaphor for struggles people experience in real life?
It’s both. In the story, there are literal antagonists who are summoning the darkness into the world, and they act as a metaphor for the drudgery and monotony that can overtake your life if you let it.
The antagonists are the sad beige trying to take over a colorful house, and the boring blocky renovations that ruin once-beautiful buildings. They’re the meaningless conformity that social groups often enforce.
Most significantly, they’re the insistence that creative pursuits are worthless in a society that judges your value by how prestigious your job title is. And that belief keeps people locked in the monotony of the day-to-day demands of life until they forget what they’re really living for.
Was the story planned from beginning to end before you wrote the music, or did the narrative evolve alongside the songs?
It evolved alongside the songs. It’s not a strict, play-by-play script, but we grouped the songs on the album based on their place on the album’s emotional spectrum.
I developed the story a couple of years ago as a general album concept, and it got more detailed each time I revisited it. We had a rough idea of the sound we wanted to go for on most of the songs, so we had most of the tracklist ready before they were finished.
Based on the sounds and themes we had in mind, we grouped the adventurous and hopeful songs together in Act I, the darker and moodier songs in Act II, and the aftermath of the main “battle” in Act III.
It all came together fairly smoothly, since Josh and I can basically read each other’s minds.
If Nox Aeterna were adapted into a film, book, or video game, what would you hope audiences would take away from it?
I hope they would take away the importance of making time for the friends, hobbies, and interests that matter to you.
“Gods of War” began life as a song for another project. How did it find its home within Nox Aeterna?
A couple of years ago, I wanted to make an acoustic Exiled Hope EP, as a change of pace from the project’s usual densely-layered symphonic metal. I never got around to it because I ended up working on more symphonic metal instead.
Then, when Josh and I started Forgotten Shrine, I revisited the idea because Josh had the instruments and skillset to bring the song to life in the way I had originally intended it to sound, and then some.
Because of that, Forgotten Shrine has become the home for my more atmospheric, folksy compositions, along with some other surprising twists.
“Halo” introduces unexpected country and pop influences. What inspired that stylistic shift?
Mostly my sense of humor. I thought it would be hilarious to put a country-pop song next to a death metal song on the tracklist, and I can’t think of anyone else who’s ever done that before.
Musically, the song started out as a weird spin-off of “If I Die Young” by The Band Perry, mainly because I was genuinely curious as to how I would sound playing that style.
It started as a jokey experiment and became a brutally honest exploration of idealism in relationships. I also figured that the musical style fit the lyrical theme, since similar themes come up often in country-pop.
The song was so much fun to make that I would love to work with this style again in the future.
“Dearly Departed” explores revenge and corruption. Was that one of the most emotionally difficult songs to write?
Yes, this one is very personal to both of us.
Josh came up with the general theme, subgenre, and some of the lyrics, and I created the initial musical demo and filled the rest of the lyrics out. We’ve both dealt with abandonment from people who were close to us, so we were on the exact same wavelength with this song, probably more than the others.
It’s basically one long, cathartic scream. That’s what death metal is good for—an angry, cathartic release.
The title track feels like the emotional centerpiece of the album. What does “Nox Aeterna” represent to each of you personally?
It’s definitely the emotional centerpiece of the album.
It represents a crossroads—the keepers of the shrine are tired and disillusioned, and they’re beginning to believe that saving the shrine is no longer worth the fight. The main antagonist—who is leading the darkness into their world—is trying to convince them to give up and let the shrine fall into ruin.
The song serves as a reminder to stay the course and not give up on your mission, even when outside forces tell you that your pursuits are not worth the effort.
“End of the Dream” closes the story with mixed emotions rather than a straightforward victory. Why was that ending important?
Simply put, the album had to end this way to leave room for more adventures down the line. Giving the characters complete closure would have been too definite of an ending. We’re already talking about the concept for another album.
But “End Of The Dream” also encapsulates how I often feel after achieving a goal, or finishing a great book or TV show; glad that I finished it, but also a little empty and sad that it’s over.
That’s how I felt when we finished the album—immensely proud, but sad that this project we had worked on for about three years was coming to an end.
My favorite line in the song is “There’s nothing here called ‘destiny,’” which reminds the listener that their future is whatever they make of it. There will always be more art, music, books, movies, and stories to create and enjoy—at least, as long as the shrine keepers do their job. More adventures can continue in some form, even if the current one has an inevitable end, and the next adventures may be unexpected.
What was the biggest challenge in creating such an ambitious concept album as an independent band?
Timing and scheduling were difficult sometimes. We have a mixing engineer, we make our own artwork, and we work on songs asynchronously by sending files back and forth, so the main challenges revolved around coordinating our release assets to be completed at the right times.
Sometimes we had to shift release dates around to accommodate various life happenings that got in the way, or to account for technical difficulties and delays in artwork creation. Otherwise, solid communication keeps us on track and coordinated. It helps that we have many of the same interests and understand each other’s songwriting tendencies fairly intuitively as a result.
Were there any songs that almost didn’t make the final tracklist?
Nope, we wrote just as many songs as were intended to go on the album. Each song has its special place on the tracklist. There are, however, a few that didn’t make the cut this time and still need more work. But that’s a conversation for the next album!
A Shrine Worth Protecting
With Nox Aeterna, Forgotten Shrine isn’t simply telling a fantasy story. The album uses its world of guardians, darkness, and a sacred shrine to explore something deeply human: what happens when we stop making room for the things that make us feel alive?
Sofia’s experiences with creative burnout, growing responsibilities, and rediscovering childhood passions helped shape a record that encourages listeners to resist the pressure to abandon their imagination. Whether that means making music, reading a book, spending time with friends, creating art, or simply allowing yourself to enjoy something without needing it to be productive, Nox Aeterna argues that those things aren’t distractions from life; they can be the reason we keep moving forward. And if the story continues as Sofia hints, the shrine keepers may have plenty more adventures ahead.
FORGOTTEN SHRINE is:
Josh Alexander – Guitar, Bass, hurdy gurdy, Irish Bouzouki, Additional Instruments, Backing Vocals, Composition.
Sofia Frasz – Lead Vocals, Guitar, Lyrics, Composition.
Guest Musicians:
Ember Belladonna – flute on “The Parting Glass (Reforged)”
Kevino – guitar solo on “Nox Aeterna”
Joshua Dalviken – spoken word passages on “Where Shadows Lie (Reforged)”, “Nox Aeterna”, and “End Of The Dream”
Nox Aeterna Track List:
1. Where Shadows Lie (Reforged)
2. Terror! At The Ballroom
3. Loch Lomond
4. Gods Of War
5. Wander So Far
6. Nox Aeterna
7. Dearly Departed
8. Halo
9. The Parting Glass (Reforged)
10. End Of The Dream
11. Where Shadows Lie (Reforged Instrumental)
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