The Black and White Album-The Hives

In October, the Hives released their new record called the Black and White Album which actually was a different brand of punk rock from the dynamic five Swedish guys who can be declared as the different breed of punk rockers who, instead of ripped Levi's, they choose black slack, and rather then a Misfits t-shirt, they choose a black dress shirt, and instead of a leather jacket, they choose the white dress jackets. "Why?" One might ask, and the only legitimate explaination to think of, is to be different.

That's exactly what this record was. Different. To say the least. Very new for them, and unknown. Which hints a label of "a different type of punk rock." That's what they are all-in-all, is a punk rock band. One of the only surviving ones, at that. They're so pure about it, and nothing is phony, and that's what makes the Hives punk. The fact that they don't care about what they look like, or what their music sounds like. I applaud that. Which makes them the kind of band that you listen to to get pumped up.

One of the most fun things about this band is how egotistical their lead singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist is. He takes a great sense of pride in what they create and he thinks that it is perfect. And in all honesty. It is. He once said in an interview, "We've been explaining to the world a lot of things about our new record, and how good it is, when it will eventually come out. Sometimes it feels like we're making Chinese Democracy." I mean, if the record sucked, he would sound like an asshole, but the record was a classic, so you don't even care, and in fact, you find it moderately funny.

This record, compared to the other records which areTyrannasaurous Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious, and Barely Legal (try to download that one on LimeWire) this one is way different. Frankly, some of it's downright weird, but it's still cool....a lot like Daft Punk. Especially songs like T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S. and A Stroll Through Hive Manor. It's punk, but, as I said earlier, it's a different breed of punk rock.

One thing that did pain me to see, was that they toured with Maroon 5. In response to that, I quote the movie Superbad,"That's like slapping God in the face for a great gift." Anywho. That doesn't really matter anymore. I'm excited to see what they do for their fifth record. It should be rather interesting...to say the least. Also, I apologize for the tardiness of this review, considering it was released almost a year ago. I give it four stars, and not five, because it was a little lengthy...which shouldn't be surprising to me anymore. Most records are now.