Belmont Family Productions release of the original soundtrack for the second season of Castlevania: Nocturne, with music by Trevor Morris and Trey Toy. In the show's second season Richter Belmont and his allies - including magic wielding Annette, the newly returned half-vampire Alucard, and the young, yet powerful Maria - struggle to thwart Erzsebet Báthory, a formidable vampire queen determined to seize Paris amid the chaos of the French Revolution. Their battle leads them to unravel the mysteries of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, contend with Maria’s increasingly dark powers, and uncover the intricate past of Drolta, Erzsebet’s loyal servant and high priestess to Sekhmet. Meanwhile, Annette hones her spiritual abilities in a desperate bid to counter Erzsebet’s expanding army...

As atmospheric, engaging scores go, Trevor Morris and Trey Toy's work on the second season of Castlevania: Nocturne pretty much delivers everything you'd expect... and more. It works incredibly well in the show to add another layer of emotion and draw you into the characters and excitement of the series. However, listened to in isolation it does have a tendency to feel a little stagnant in places. There were tracks, like 'Powerful, Predatory, Deadly', which really start to build well. However, just as they were beginning to pique my interest, they ended. There are a few too many pieces like this which are just too short. The end result makes the album appear a little disjointed.

At times I was reminded of Trevor Jones' work on movies like Labyrinth and Arachnophobia - two scores I grew up falling in love with and still revisit from time to time.

Whilst I did enjoy my time with the score, and really got a lot out of Morris and Toy's engaging and nuanced compositions, it's not one that I can imagine I'll be digging out in months to come, but for the here and now I'm loving it.

8

Darren Rea