By Isaac Siegemund-Broka
Staff Writer
Excellence sets standards, and as a result, the new album “Lex Hives” from Swedish garage punk rockers The Hives appears mediocre when placed next to some of the band’s previous, higher quality work.
The Hives recent composition swells with punk-like energy but fails to match the brilliance of its 2007 album, “The Black and White Album.” Unable to maintain its high potential, The Hives’ successes five years ago may have obviously been a climax from which it is slowly descending.
The Hives’ sassy garage rock dates back to 1997, when the Swedish band’s debut album, “Barely Legal,” was released. However, the thrashing drums and sloppy vocals of “Barely Legal” spin the record in the direction of hardcore punk, comparable to Bad Brains or New Bomb Turks.
The Hives has also become progressively sillier, completing this transformation with the “The Black and White Album,” a mad and funky punk adventure with famous tracks like “Tick Tick Boom” and “Hey Little World.”
“Lex Hives” shares various elements of “The Black and White Album” but simply does not maintain the same level of artistic variety and innovation. A regression back to its completely guitar-centric days, “Lex Hives” lacks the musical abilities that The Hives is clearly capable of. On “The Black and White Album,” The Hives are experimenting with the limits of their vast creativity; on “Lex Hives,” the band members are just having fun.
“Lex Hives” explodes with driving guitar jams and ska drumming, particularly on “1000 Answers,” “These Spectacles Reveal the Nostalgics” and “If I Had a Cent.” While undoubtedly exciting, these tracks show the Hives’ step back into punk and regression from the abilities exhibited on their previous works.
“Wait A Minute Now” is an attempt to maintain the weirder side of the band’s sound but quickly devolves back into punk, like the rest of the album.
What The Hives’ members showed with “The Black and White Album”—and 2004’s “Tyrannosaurus Hives,” for that matter—was that they are able to bring a wacky, snotty-but-cheerful pop twist to standard punk. Consequently, the lack of character on “Lex Hives” doesn’t indicate that The Hives is an inept band but simply that the band may have peaked.
The final track on the album, “Midnight Shifter,” closes the album well, blending Bruce Springsteen brass and piano rock, Beach Boys’ pop aesthetic (a few moments sound suspiciously like “Fun, Fun, Fun”), and typical Hives’ punk-pop.
“Lex Hives” is not a bad album, but considering the past work of The Hives, it is disappointing. “Lex Hives” is available on iTunes for $9.99 and in most retail stores.
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