Review by Phil Rozier for MPM
Everyone has their own personal taste in music right? And if you’re like me, you sometimes let that taste determine what you think you like, and what you think you don’t like quite so much.
I’m not sure whether it starts when you are a teenager and beginning to learn about music and what your ‘style’ is. You are influenced by the media, friendship groups, social pressures, and often some displacement of common sense in your mind!
Anyhoo, ‘Enough is Enough’ about how our mind develops (see what I did there), let’s talk about The Hives. Hailing from Sweden, they’ve been on the circuit for (brace yourselves) over 30 years! They started in the 90’s, and their first album was in 1997!
So then, why did I only really start given them the time of day, when last year, I fell in love with ‘Count Down to Shut Down’? It was June 2023 (I think) when they premiered this song, and video. Was it the punk guitar riff? Was it the great video about sticking it to the man in an office environment? (for those that know me, then yea, that’s probably the prime reason! Lol) Was it the bass groove that runs through the entire track? This track totally grabbed me and got me hooked on checking out that new album as was at the time, and reviewing their back catalogue.
Then it dawned on me. ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’. That track, released in 2000/2001 I believe, was the reason for the near 25-year hiatus in my brain! I secretly really liked that track! It was being belted out by digital radio station XFm a fair bit and was making mainstream media noise. And that was probably part of the problem. Despite the fact I thought it was a pretty rocking punk ass tune, I was too busy listening to classic rock and metal and trying to ignore the late 90’s early 2000’s Nu Metal and Indie influences.
I thought if I maybe turned up Ozzy even louder, or, kept on singing to Iron Maiden, then maybe this ‘new’ music would go away and leave me with the peace of heavy metal. It was as simple as that. Despite really liking The Hives in those early days, I didn’t want to! Anything that wasn’t tuned to D, or having galloping bass lines to drive me through the song, didn’t deserve a cloth patch space on the jacket.
It’s now 2025, and in an era where it’s OK to say ‘I’m OK with that’, I can proudly say ‘I like The Hives’ and in fact, they’re pretty bloody amazing! Their last album, ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’ was really quite the eye opener. Fast, punk orientated, banging tunes with attitude and edge. Supported by some outrageously enjoyable live performances, The Hives have become one of my fav live performers despite me being over 25 years late to the party.
‘Enough is Enough’ is under 3 minutes of absolute belting furious punk attitude. With immediate blue language (don’t tell my Mum I’m listening to such abuse of the Queens English!), the band rip through an abusive little ditty about how they’ve had enough. It isn’t complicated, and the title is not misleading in any way. They’ve had enough of people, they’re sick of them! They’ve had enough of people eating what they’re fed, walking in single file and toeing the line.
That’s it. The songs over. The Hives have shown up, smashed out 2 choruses and a couple of verses and fucked off home again after given it all they’ve got. You just can’t argue with that.
In August this year, their latest album will be released ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’. An usually short break between this release and their previous record. Right now, The Hives are on fire, burning hotter than ever before and they should capitalise on the momentum. They’re exactly what is needed right now.
See you on the UK tour in November.
Pre-order the album, “The Hives Forever Forever The Hives” 👇
