Since their humble beginnings, the wonderfully belligerent band
the Hives have always had a bit of an identity crisis. The Swedish quintet
scream out garage rock to piss off your mom, yet don matching suits in vintage
chic. Each member is lovably ordinary — ranging from chubby and sweaty to
looking like that stringy guy down the street who never fails to remind you
he's in a band. Nevertheless, each goes by a self-given nickname implying
iconic coolness. More importantly, their riff-based music hails from an earlier
time of growling frontmen and incendiary guitars, but the Hives certainly don't
try to be vintage. Far from it, they've always created music the way they think
it should be now — rough and fun.

These many contradictory faces of the Hives have always been
their distinguishing feature, and the fantastic new Black & White Album is just as, well, black and white.
Recording in Mississippi instead of on their home turf of Fagersta, Sweden, the
band has made some significant stylistic changes with the help of production
mogul Pharrell Williams, and the Hives' newest offering teeters perilously
between the abrasive tendencies of their youth and a complete stylistic
upheaval. Fortunately, the mental balancing act is worth the effort.

The Hives have always been tons of fun, becoming an
infectious break from the overproduced homogeny that constitutes the majority
of radio-friendly rock made today. Lead vocalist Howlin' Pelle Almqvist said of
the album, "We see it as the last major-label rock and roll record that
anybody's ever gonna put out. So we thought we'd better spend some money on
it." Fortunately for these heroes of shameless garage-punk, the introduction of
new influences complements their simplistic approach, and this bedrock sound
remains the cornerstone of The Black
& White Album.

The album opens with "Tick Tick Boom," which recalls Veni Vidi Vicious' classic "Die, All Right." The band hollers — for all to hear — that
they don't need to change, singing, "Yeah I've done it before/ And I can do it
some more/ So what you waiting for?/ Yeah/ I was right all along!" However, the
album's second track, Try it Again," gives voice to the other half of the
Hives' split personality, which states matter-of-factly, "They say the
definition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different
result." Pharrell's introduction of cheerleaders into the mix is a
dance-inducing complement that makes the contradiction of these messages all
the more effective.

This stylistic competition pulses throughout the album and
puts the Hives at the top of their game. The highly filtered "Giddy Up" rides a
slinky groove along with the electronic sound of bombs dropping and is a
rocking track that has just that effect. "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." lands somewhere
between Tears For Fears at their angriest and the head-nodding dance punk of
!!! (Chik Chik Chik), but works in hyper tempo-surges more true to the Hives'
form. "You Got it All…Wrong" sounds remarkably like the Zutons (at their best)
and the outburst heavy call-and-answer of "Well Alright" is complemented by a
moaning, groaning, interlude more appropriate to Gregorian monks. "It Won't Be
Long" is still punctuated bursts of dirty noise, but strings glide along behind
the distortion, and the song has a tranquil interlude similar to that of "Well
Alright."

The Hives make raucous music that's hard not to love, and
they know it. But the addition of new production and some aesthetic changes
make The Black & White Album
their cleanest work to date. The conflict between the band's two personalities
may rage on, but the audience will continue to have something fun to listen to
as long as that's the case.

4 stars out of 5