The Hives

Honing their mod posing, barked lyrics and frenetic breaks into pointed little jabs at the rock canon, these Swedish garage rock deconstructionists are even more prickly and angular on their sophomore release than they were on 1997's Barely Legal. Anthemic, snotty and athletic, the Hives' clean, rhythmic minimalism is as sleek and fast as a turbocharged Saab.

If the success of Sweden's Hives proves anything, it's that balls-out garage rock is
evergreen. The stylized sounds on the newly rereleased Veni Vidi Vicious are no less cool
and sexy now than they were when the Sonics, the Stooges or the Buzzcocks played them
decades ago. Vicious is a combination of punk's snottiness, Detroit rock's raw power and
the stylized blues freak-outs of bands like Pussy Galore. "Hate to Say I Told You S... More >

These Swedes know the great selling point of the Voidoids was the guitars they can't come near, not the vocals they irremediably recall. How dumb--if it was that easy some emo kids would do it. The Hives explode where a hundred other punk bands are proud to rock. If they're not openhearted like Rancid they're also not cute like Green Day, who dominated that punk revival anyway, and I'll take their wage-slave rants over the Strokes' ass-man ennui any day. Really, so what if Max Martin writes 'em? (Grade - A-)