Album Review: The Hives, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives

The best thing about a new Hives album is the subsequent tour. It’s a cliché to say a band is better live than on wax, but the Swedish garage-rockers have made a career out of it. Indeed, I’d struggle to name an artist with as much of a gap between their gigs (often brilliant) and their recorded work (decent).

The Hives Forever Forever The Hives sees The Hives do what they’ve done forever. Their in-your-face arsenal of meaty riffs, repetitive call-and-response chants, and general attitude of not giving a shit are present. As is their usual inkwell of influences: frothing Iggy Stooge hysteria on ‘O.C.D.O.D’ and Ramones romping on ‘Paint A Picture’.

You better not complain either, with Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, er, howling “Everyone’s a little fuckin’ bitch / And I am getting sick and tired of it” on battering ram opener ‘Enough Is Enough’.

In the lead up to the record, Almqvist said the band wanted to make an album of 12 singles, with a stadium-orientated sound. Fair enough. The production is polished and even dramatic at times. ‘Hooray, Hooray, Hooray’ would work as a high-octane theme tune for Monday Night Raw, and the glam-rock strummage on ‘Bad Call’ could fill an arena or three. New wave and Euro-pop seep in too, like on ‘Path Of Most Resistance’, which features a hooky synth motif.

The Hives have always felt like a live band accidentally trapped in a studio. But after 30 years and seven albums, they continue to sound more alive and chaotic than most.

7/10