The Hives – “Black and White Album” review

The Hives – “Black and White Album”
(A&M Records)

Well, this is a bit of a misstep for Sweden’s rock ‘n’ roll purveyors. Whereas Tyrannosaurus Hives had an amazing sense of Devo about it, the Black and White Album is a return to the rock ‘n’ roll basics of Barely Legal. Despite the involvement of the Neptunes’ Pharrel Williams, the album never really does anything different than what’s come before… and even though this is familiar territory, it feels like the band has lost touch with what’s worked in the past.

“Tick Tick Boom,” despite its bombast, never really rises above past tracks like “A.K.A.I.D.I.O.T.” or “Supply and Demand.” “Try It Again” has a serious case of Go Team shout along and hand claps, but past that, it’s the same old, same old. When a rock band has done work with Timbaland, you expect something a little bit more than the phone-in the Hives do here.

Tick Tick Boom