Bloedmaan have released Circle of the Moon, their third album, out on 30 October through Immortal Frost Productions on CD, vinyl and digital, and streaming whole on the label's channel.
The title is a Castlevania game from 2001, and the Belgian band have been building this record around that series rather than around the usual black metal reading matter.
The eight titles keep the conceit without breaking it: On Dragons Wings, The Sorceress and the Key, Dawn of the Eternal Frost, Oh Come Night Eternal, He Who Speaks in Dreams, Curse of the Undead, Spell of Thralldom and Transylvanian Tears.
That last title lands a syllable away from a 1994 Norwegian album whose shadow sits over a great deal of black metal made since. Whether that is deliberate the band have not said, but anybody who owns both records will notice where it sits.
The songs run between four and seven minutes each, which is long enough for the melodic writing this band do and short enough that eight of them do not outstay the idea.