Bloodlines is a "cinema of the mind"[2] or "faux soundtrack" album similar to its predecessor, where the track list is a scene guide to a movie that must be imagined while listening.

[3][4] In an August 2021 interview with Germany's Virus Magazine, composer Gavin Goszka mentioned that the idea for Bloodlines came from Midnight Syndicate's desire to create new material to add to an upcoming vinyl reissue of The 13th Hour.

[5] In another interview, he also spoke of the band's interest in extending the backstory of the characters from The 13th Hour,[6] a sinister clan called the Haverghast family which were first introduced on Midnight Syndicate's 2001 release, Gates of Delirium.

"[12] Jeff Szpirglas of Rue Morgue Magazine praised the album's "depth of sound and gothic grandeur" as well as its "real narrative drive, rather than disconnected cuts of mood music.

"[3] Anne Nickoloff of The Plain Dealer described the album as "lush doomy orchestrations vividly painting a picture of ghoulish adventures"[6] while Cinemusical described its music style as "engaging thematic ideas that have a dark Elfman-esque quality with a bit more growl and Poledouris-style rhythmic ingenuity.