The Hives - The Hives Forever Forever The Hives

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if The Hives tried to make a record that wasn’t just wall-to-wall Hives songs… well, that’s not this one. At this point, you don’t go to The Hives for surprises. You go for the hit of garage-punk sugar rush they’ve been dishing out for over three decades, and ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ delivers exactly that. Across its 13 tracks, the Swedish five-piece barely take their foot off the accelerator, hammering home the kind of taut, hook-stuffed rock’n’roll that’s made them festival royalty and one of the most reliable good nights out in European rock since 2001.

Opener ‘Enough Is Enough’ is immediate, bratty and unmistakably them. “Went to the doctor, turns out I’m sick, sick of everyone’s bullshit” is pure Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, equal parts funny and fed up. ‘Hooray Hooray Hooray’ and ‘Bad Call’ keep the tempo up, all clattering drums and razor-sharp riffs, while ‘Paint A Picture’ rides on a wiry groove, trying to convince you (and itself) that living outside society might be the smarter move.

‘O.C.D.O.D’ and ‘Legalize Living’ are built for call-and-response chaos, the latter skewering the everyday squeeze of modern life with tongue firmly in cheek. After a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it interlude, ‘Roll Out The Red Carpet’ and ‘Born A Rebel’ add swagger to the sprint. ‘They Can’t Hear The Music’ winks at anyone who’s ever been told rock is dead, while ‘Path Of Most Resistance’ doubles down on pure velocity. Closing with the title-track, the album leaves the same way it starts: at full pelt, no compromises.

The downside to that consistency is the inevitable blur. Individually, every track sounds like a highlight – drop one into a live set and it’ll tear the roof off – but in a single sitting, the lack of dynamic shifts can turn the record into one long adrenaline hit. Still, The Hives have never claimed to be anything other than a guaranteed good time.