The Hives, ‘Tyrannosaurus Hives’
By user • Jul 27th, 2004 • Category: Album Reviews
Randy Fitzsimmons, the mysterious guru whom The Hives claim delivers songs in a suitcase to an unmarked location, must have been in top form while writing the band’s third record.
The truth is that guitarist Nick Arson pens the songs before handing them over to his vocalist brother, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist. This release is the band’s best; it avoids the wavering of 1997’s “Barely Legal” or the redundancy of 2000’s “Veni Vidi Vicious.”
“Walk Idiot Walk” embraces the guitars of The Who’s “Can’t Explain,” while “Diabolic Scheme” utilizes a full strings section, and “Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones” dabbles with a drum loop. Yet, all the while, Almqvist is, well, howling. But it is a controlled and hummable howl during “Dead Quote Olympics” and “Antidote.”
2004 will prove The Hives are (insert mandatory “far from extinct” reference here).
Northern Star, July 27, 2004
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