Disguising their resurrection as a sardonic burial, The Hives have returned after a decade-long hiatus with their sixth studio album The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons. In support of the new record the Swedish rockers are heading out on an international run of tour dates that will include two nights at The Belasco in Los Angeles on November 14th and 15th.
Over the course of twelve rip-roaring tracks the quintet — comprised of brothers Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist (vocals) and Nicholaus Arson (guitar) alongside Chris Dangerous (drums), Vigilante Carlstroem (guitar), and the newly minted The Johan and Only (bass guitar) — serve up a familiarly volatile collection of vociferous rock bombast. Yet the consistency with which they create dually infectious and hyperkinetic pummellings of punk-rock could never be less trite.
On the album’s opening head-banger “Bogus Operandi,” they settle into the inflammatory sonic grooves carved out by its grueling duel of riffs and rabid percussion. Unleashing a never-ending conflagration through which the igniting wails of Almqvist and Arson emerge wild-eyed. “Trapdoor Solution” burns like a white-hot comet through the record, serving as a blazingly brief thunderer the band fully intends to play twice while out on tour.
“Rigor Mortis Radio” with its swinging melodics invokes a kind of swooning nostalgia that bristles with the band’s biting irreverence. “I got your emails saying you want to meet,” Almqvist drawls. “I got your emails / Delete, delete.” A bluesy surge finds release amidst the rambunctious noisiness of “Stick Up,” while the adrenaline rush that rockets from the brash anthemics of “Smoke & Mirrors” is carried aloft by its power-pop DNA.
Then there’s the jauntily scurrying charge of guitars and ecstatic drums that detonate on “The Bomb,” which they follow up with the simmering and eccentric “What Did I Ever Do To You?” Its hypnotic riffs and hauntingly dreamy soundscapes offer a ruminating space of anxious contemplation, its creation owed to a curious purchase Almqvist made on Swedish Craigslist that earned him a one-man-band apparatus: an organ connected to a guitar-microphone-drum machine.
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See The Hives when they play two back-to-back nights at The Belasco in Los Angeles on November 14th and 15th.
Visit The Hives on their website, TikTok, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Words: Steven Ward
Listen to The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons the new album from The Hives below!
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