Veni Vidi Vicious - THE HIVES

The Hives are in your face like the school bully. You will find them waiting for you around the corner, standing by your locker and pounding hand in fist glaring from across the cafeteria. They are going to push you down, knock your books from your hands and call you names. And you are gonna take it and you are gonna like it.

These Swedish punks have all the attitude and hardened anger of The Godfathers, the swagger of the Stones and the energetic rhythms of the Stooges. These Viking descendents rock hard.

The Hives sound is derived from the punishing drums of Chris Dangerous, abusive guitar spankings from Viglante Carlstroem and Nicholaus Arson, the occasionally tight, but often sloppy grooves of bassist Dr Matt Destruction and the half-singing, half-screaming vocals of Howlin' Pelle Almqvist. This all adds up to bowel-clinching tremors of dangerous punk rock explosive fun!!!

A revitalization of the late 70's and early 80's punk scene has forced it's way into the next millennium with a new breed of bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes and The Hives. They are all welcome additions and couldn't have come soon enough. Rock was beginning to die a sad and painful death with a dearth of good music. A person can only tolerate so much earnest and emotive faux rock groups like Incubus, Creed and Staind.

The Hives show off their young bravado on their sophomore LP, Veni Vidi Vicious. Just like the Sex Pistols, these boys from across the pond are exploiting their own ability to annoy. Pelle boldly announces just this on "Main Offender:"

Im on my way, cant settle down/Stuck in ways of being an ass and Ive got a lot of nerve that Im ready to pass/Im on my way, cant settle down/Stuck in ways of sadistic joy and my talent only goes as far as to annoy/THIS IS MY MAIN OFFENDER. THIS IS WHAT IVE GOT AND ITS GOT ME SAYING - WHY ME!

Article Author: Dawn Olsen

Dawn Olsen is a veteran blogger who proudly supports the guy who publishes this awesome site. When not engaging in neologistical pursuits, she writes about popular culture, Hollywood and those fanciful creatures called "celebrities" at Glosslip.com. …

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