The Hives
Tyrannosaurus Hives

THE REVIEW

The new Hives album is out, and the usual uproar that accompanies every new rock’n roll, new garage, or whatever you want to call it release is unleashed on the magazines.
And, no doubt, our Scandinavian rockers are entertaining, it couldn't be otherwise: "Abra Cadaver" kicks off, opening the album with punk speed, distorted guitars, and a wild voice singing an enticing melody.
You can't help but get up and dance on the bed.
The second track, "Two-Timing Touch And Broken Bones," tones things down just a bit, sounding more like the Strokes, a resemblance accentuated by the use of filtered drums, very common in today's rock’n roll.

The album continues like this, full-speed and without hiccups, except for the horrible "A Little More Little For You," a sort of ska/punk rock track that couldn't be more commercial.
On the other hand, the other less rhythmic track than usual, "Diabolic Scheme," is saved by a "grotesque" interpretation by the vocalist, and out-of-place strings that emerge halfway through the track.

Nothing more to say, in short, you blast it from the first to the last note (more or less) with pleasure; certainly, there remains the regret that there's not even one slightly more innovative idea, because a slightly more dysfunctional structure like in "Walk Idiot Walk" or some keyboards placed here and there are not enough to talk about originality.
And so I’ll tell you that having put aside this "Tyrannosaurus Hives," my eye happens to fall by chance on "Superfuzz Bigmuff + Early Singles" by Mudhoney, who, everyone seems to have forgotten, were already reviving garage rock 15 years ago; thus I place on the stereo that wild and beautiful Seattle anthem that was "Touch Me I’m Sick" and conclude that there’s really nothing to be done, today's rock’n roll groups may be fun, but they now have a trendy slickness that makes them seem less sincere, less innovative and less valid than what magazines and industry insiders currently want you to believe...

So, I propose a midway score, emphasizing that this album can be considered, at most, as a pleasant half-hour diversion when you really have nothing else to do.