Swedish garage rockers The Hives released their third record,
“Tyrannosaurus Hives” last week.
While some may only feel they have “highly evolved;” the group
proves they can change to avoid extinction by taking their pop-punk
sound to a more elemental form.
“Tyrannosaurus” comes as a follow up to 2002’s hit “Veni Vidi
Vicious,” which sold more than 400,000 copies.
For those unfamiliar with The Hives, they had their first big
hit with “Hate to Say I Told You So” at about the same time rock
was becoming cool again.
The songs are short — most less than two-and-a-half minutes —
and are filled with shouting vocals and short punk-like guitar
riffs.
The whole album is less than half an hour. “Tyrannosaurus”
sounds much like its predecessor except with a cleaned-up and
tighter sound. Each moment on the CD is used carefully and moves
pretty fast with no filler.
A casual listener or one new to the genre may feel like they are
being bombarded with rock, but don’t be discouraged.
“Walk Idiot Walk,” the first single released, gets better upon
every playing. If you still haven’t heard the catchy chorus yet, by
next week you’ll probably be screamin’ “You’ve seen the idiot
walk/You’ve seen the idiot talk/ But you never learned nothing and
nothing isn’t over,” if only in your car.
The shortest song “Abra Cadaver”, may be the best to dance
around in your room to for its super fast beat.
“Love in Plaster” and “No Pun Intended” both contain synthesized
keyboards taken from influences like Devo.
Stylistically, “Diabolic Scheme” departs from the rest. It is a
bit slower with wailing vocals and a guitar solo.
The whole song is reminiscent of some tracks on the Rocky Horror
Picture Show.
The band is not afraid to mock themselves in “No Pun Intended”
when they say “So you look for authenticity/ But I can see what is
bothering me/ The kind you want from long way back in time/ It’s
been disposable since ’79.”
“Tyrannosaurus” deserves a good listening. The band is currently
on their North American tour with stops in New York, Boston and
Detroit this week.