The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives

I just listened to Tyrannosaurus Hives, and I must say I am completely exhausted. What it most reminds me of is getting hit by a train that’s going 50,000 miles per hour, but the train is only a millimeter long. You don’t know what the hell just happened, but you’re really sore. Sweden is normally associated with big burly blonde men, as well as ABBA, but the Hives, who hail from Fagersta, Sweden, couldn’t be more unlike those two things. For one, none of them is blonde, and only one of them is big, and he’s not burly. For two, ABBA specialized in dance music. You can’t dance to the Hives. Well, you can, I guess, but it’s closer to having a seizure than actual dancing.

Right out of the gate, the Hives are blazing. The pace, energy, and pure volume of the opening track, “Abra Cadaver,” staggers you and pushes you back, and then the song’s over. Its minute-and-a-half length brings to mind that millimeter train analogy from before. That pattern basically persists through the entire album, which clocks in at 3 seconds shy of 30 minutes. The best track, “Walk Idiot Walk,” starts off with a really dirty scream that sort of reminds me of “Rocks Off” by the Rolling Stones. It’s a little hard to pick out particular songs, since all of them have such brevity. They all tend to be the loud, in-your-face type, but at the same time, they don’t all bleed together. Each song is a definite entity, and you can definitely tell where one starts and another begins. They just all have the same spirit in mind, which is blowing your face off.

The Hives are a gang, a club, a society. They all wear the same thing, adhering to a strict black and white dress code. This gang has only five members, and there isn’t any room for anyone else. A possible exception is Randy Fitzsimmons, someone who’s not actually in the band but writes all their songs (and may not actually exist). The members of the band even adopt amusing monikers like Nicholaus Arson, Chris Dangerous, and Dr. Matt Destruction. This is a band that likes to blow stuff up.

For a band that is so focused on fast, intense, cranked-to-11 rock music, they definitely take their sweet time in releasing music. In their almost 9 year career, they’ve only released 3 albums. They didn’t show up on the public radar until 2002, when their single “Hate to Say I Told You So” broke, two years after it was released. I think the band is focused on paring down the crap until they’re only left with the good stuff. Unfortunately, this process takes a while, and it doesn’t produce very plentiful results. It is odd that such an exacting process makes for such frenetic music filled with an energy I haven’t seen in a long time. The Hives may desperately need to go on Ritalin, as well as a strong sedative, but they are a fun ride.

Prime Cuts:
Walk Idiot Walk
Diabolic Scheme
Love In Plaster
A Little More for Little You

22 Rating: 12