In May of this year, The Hives had an urgent announcement to make. Randy Fitzsimmons, the Swedish garage rock veteran’s infamously secretive – and potentially fictitious – founder, had passed on. Or at least that’s how it certainly appeared. A series of demos he had left behind helped formed the basis of the band’s latest, sixth record, the appropriately titled ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’.
In truth, the material does a decent enough job of filling the acerbic, punk shaped void left since their decade long absence. ‘Rigor Mortis Radio’ and the sledgehammer riffs of lead single ‘Bogus Operandi’ result in a particularly thrilling racket, if unlikely to convert any new fans, but you sense perhaps, that was never really their intention.
6/10
Words: Luke Winstanley
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