The Hives - 'Tyrannosaurus Hives' (Universal-Island)
4/5
By: Toby L
The Hives In Coherent Full-Length Album Shocker!
Yes, you read that correctly; don't adjust your soggy lenses. After the multi-selling 'Your New Favourite Band' compilation-LP which saw The Hives break through in spectacular, manic aplomb in 2002, the Swedish garage-punks regrouped, shifted to a major-label (Universal), and set on creating an album that didn't rely on being mercilessly cut and pasted into a cohesive form so as to reach chart-conquering, live-circuit dominating success.
And, bloody hell, against the odds, the freakish Scands are victorious. We're shocked, too.
'Tyrannosaurus Hives' is a fighting fistful of throttling-riffage (s)punk and endless doses of suited precision. It's mind-numbingly fun, like The Rolling Stones on a never-ending coke binge. What's more, it utilises their most prized of knacks - moulding the summer-friendly no-brainer anthems - and the frenzied hysteria of their more obscure matter in conjoining an electronic/keyboard/even strings-aping paranoia attack of a record.
'YOU CAN'T MAKE AN OMELETTE WITHOUT BREAKING AN EGG!'
There's something about The Hives' songs, isn't there? Possibly the fact they're completely, obliteratingly ridiculous, but so vital because of it. 'Love In Plaster' is breakneck fast, and partially scary in its tinny marvel, 'B Is For Brutus' is an excelling rush of crushing velocity, the closing 'Antidote' bears drum-rolls you thought weren't even viable and a guitar-refrain that cheekily lifts, gulp, INXS's 'Suicide Blonde', 'A Little More For Little You' is a melodic wonder in pop-racketeering, and, as you'll already know, 'Walk Idiot Walk' is the best thing the salubriously presented quintet have ever done.
In a time of suspiciously 'earnest' musos, it's a comfort to know that The Hives don't bring with them heavy tales of political reform or World Peace (more likely 'World Noise', in their case). They're just here to arrogantly molest our ears with a frenetic foraging of silliness others aren't juvenile enough to attempt. It's Swedes-y when you know how.
Artists in this article: The Hives
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