The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

The Hives

[#] Lex Hives (2012)

By, for, with, and because of The Hives.

Reviewed January 18, 2021

(This is an album that was previously covered on the Rediscovering! Click the link in the table to read a wordier and possibly less accurate version of my feelings on this album.)

You can always count on the well-dressed, bombastic Hives to deliver exactly what you expect them to. They revel in stupid simple, energetic garage rock with a taste for the snotty, and Lex Hives is another fine batch of songs cut from that same cloth. You can only guess the lyrics of "Come On!", "1000 Answers" is a bullet train straight out of the mechanical rush that was Tyrannosaurus Hives, and "If I Had a Cent" might as well have been recorded for Veni Vidi Vicious, right down to the thudding drum tone. That's not to say there aren't new wrinkles on the formula. Even at 31 minutes and change, The Hives find room for a bit more melody and a few slower (but no less grandiose) proclamations, and as much as I love the kick in the ass rush they can provide, I think those are the best songs here.

To that end, "Wait a Minute" brings things down to human (though certainly plenty jerky) tempos and brings in the other Hives to honk the refrain, and it's a effective hook! In fact, I'd argue this is one of the best songs they've ever written. "I want shit that's made in India/Incense, gold and myrrh" is the exact kinda couplet you'd want from a guy who calls himself Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, and "I Want More" has lots more among the stomps and claps where that comes from. The climax of the album comes from the smoky two-minute epic "My Time is Coming", the whispers in the wind, the Poconos shoutouts (look mom, we're on a Hives album!), all exploding into shouts and confetti showers—or is that blood raining down? Either way, quite the sight to behold.

Essential:	"1000 Answers", "Wait a Minute", "My Time is Coming"
Quintessential:	"Go Right Ahead"
Non-Essential:	"The Spectacles Reveal the Nostalgics"
Rating:
Further listening:	Lex Hives' Rediscovering entry