Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

summing up the spirit of Hives-style rock.

The band's lyrics -- which occasionally suffer because of the language barrier -- address that perennial punk subject matter: social anxiety. On "Main Offender," a buzz saw of a song revolving around a riff straight off a Nuggets compilation, Almqvist complains, "I'm stuck in ways of sadistic joy/And my talent only goes as far as to annoy."

Any fan of old-school guitar punk will find something familiar here. But there's a reason these particular born-too-late garage rockers were signed by a major label for a reported million bucks. When all is said and done, the white-hot sound of Veni Vidi Vicious is unmistakably the Hives.

JENNY ELISCU
(RS 898 - June 20, 2002)

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 . Anthemic, snotty and athletic, the Hives' clean, rhythmic minimalism is as sleek and fast as a turbocharged Saab.