Review: The Hives – The Hives Forever, Forever The Hives

Seven albums in and The Hives still carry the same raw charm and witty bravado that made them a household name all those years ago.

The Hives have been the antithesis of familiarity breeding contempt for over two and a half decades now. Picked up by Alan McGhee’s Poptones label in the early ‘00s, the Scandinavian five piece exploded in the UK after compilation Your Favourite New Band and the irresistible charm of anthems like ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ and ‘Main Offender’.

They were originally nicknamed the Swedish Strokes by a British music press keen to find the next DIY band influenced by New Yorkers Julian Casablancas and co. And boy did The Hives have the full package, delivering an electrifying garage rock sound like nothing else the UK was producing. Not much has changed in the years since. The Hives still stand out from their peers while producing a consistent sound distinguishably them. Familiar but in a good way.

Their latest outing The Hives Forever Forever The Hives has the Swedish outfit at their exhilarating best once more – a 32-minute experience remarkably fresh, fun and energetic. Short, sharp punk bangers from start to finish.

Produced in Stockholm with long-time producer Pelle Gunnerfeldt, these 13 songs fly in with the same unpretentious charm, breakneck speed and customary quirkiness as their ‘00s peak. As always, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist is in top form. The exuberant frontman is elated and frustrated, roaring his lines like his very existence depends on it.

For starters, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’s opening hits us like a punch in the face. On ‘Enough Is Enough’ Almqvist’s frustrated lyricism (“Everyone's a little f****' bitch, and I am getting sick and tired of it” is quite the beginning line) matches the song’s furious energy with a soaring chorus to boot. ‘Hooray Hooray Hooray’ follows in similar fashion, another explosive earworm that achieves the desired feel-good effect.

The excitement continues into the Ramones-inspired bubblegum punk of ‘Paint A Picture’ – its slowed down chorus offers a welcomed break before going hell for leather once more. We then follow into raucous chest-pumper ‘O.C.D.O.D’: a punk pogoing floor-filler speeding along at a million miles an hour.

In truth, there aren’t any misfires here. Just solid gold throughout. If we were being in any way critical then The Hives could have given us a breather after such a breathless beginning. But, somehow, this doesn’t detract from the album’s infectiousness.

Instead, The Hives finish in the most Hives manner possible and that is with a bang. Title track ‘The Hives Forever, Forever the Hives’ is a total backslapping, nostalgic thrill-fest. The punching beats, dirty riff (Antics-era Interpol, anyone?) and title refrain will make you want to leap about your living room like a total goofball. Guitar music in 2025 isn’t supposed to be this fun, surely?!

In a statement accompanying the album’s release, The Hives suggested their latest is "a new record so full of energy, joy, anger and life that you will be questioning reality as you have known it.” And, really, who is going to argue with them? Seven albums in and The Hives still carry the same raw charm and witty bravado that made them a household name all those years ago. A band confident in their own ability and defined sound, and one ageing like a fine wine as they progress.

So, they may have been your favourite new band in 2001 and 24 years later prove themselves your favourite old band now also. Here’s to The Hives Forever Forever the Hives…

8.5/10