UMUR "Bloodhymns" is the 4th full-length studio album by Swedish melodic black/death metal act Necrophobic. The album was released through Hammerheart Records in March 2002. Johan Bergebäck has replaced Martin Halfdan as the band´s new guitarist but other than that there have been no lineup changes since the last album.

Lineup change or not, Necrophobic continue down the same melodic black/death metal path as they did on "The Third Antichrist (1999)". The vocals are still snarling and aggressive, the lyrics blasphemous, the guitars brutal yet melodic and the rythm section tight and organic sounding. Tracks like "Taste of Black" and "Blood Anthem" are great material and that can be said about most of the material on the album, but it´s safe to say there haven´t been much development of the band´s sound since the last album. While the quality is generally high on the album I still think it´s slightly lower than on the first three studio albums. Of course the surprise element that always follow a debut release and sometimes both a sophomore and a third release too, is now completely gone, but it´s not only that. The tracks simply seem a bit less memorable than was the case on the three predecessors.

With that said "Bloodhymns" is still a very worthwhile melodic black/death metal album featuring strong musicianship, a powerful sound production and pretty great songwriting too. I would check out the first three albums before this one, but "Bloodhymns" still belongs in your collection if you are a fan of the style. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is fair.