Album: Veni Vidi Vicious Release Date: 9/12/2000 Length: 28:00 Label: Burning Heart Rating: 3.8 |
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| Track Listing | |
| 1. The Hives - Declare Guerre Nucleaire (1:35) | |
| 2. Die, All Right! (2:46) | |
| 3. A Get Together To Tear It Apart (1:52) | |
4. Main Offender (2:33)  |
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5. Outsmarted (2:22)  |
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| 6. Hate to Say I Told You So (3:22) |
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| 7. The Hives - Introduce The Metric System In Time (2:06) | |
| 8. Find Another Girl (3:12) |
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| 9. Statecontrol (1:54) | |
| 10. Inspection Wise 1999 (1:37) | |
| 11. Knock Knock (2:10) | |
| 12. Supply and Demand (2:26) | |
| Review | |
| "If you like The Strokes and The White Stripes, you will love The Hives", many reputable music critics and listeners informed me last year, as I searched for my Next Favourite Album. "Hey", I said to myself. "I do like The Strokes and The White Stripes. I guess I had better give The Hives a shot!". As things turned out, my musical collection would have been a bit better if I had ignored this advice. | |
| The first thing you should know about The Hives is that they play their music very loudly. Now, I am in no way against loud music as a whole, but the way it is done on Veni Vidi Vicious leaves quite a lot to be desired. As a general rule, if you are going to play heavy, crunching guitar licks and scream lyrics that cannot be understood over the noise of the aforementioned guitars, it should at least be melodic. While The Hives manage to pull this off decently, if not admirably, on the CD's two best tracks, "Main Offender" and "Hate to Say I Told You So", virtually all of the album's other songs sound identical -- frantic, fast-paced, distorted, and finished before you know what hit you (average track length: 2:20). | |
| However, I do not want to complain too much about this disturbing trend, because there is an alternative (in the form of "Find Another Girl", track eight), which is far worse than just repetitiveness. Quite simply, this is one of the worst songs I have ever heard. Utterly lacking in listenability, this track is backed by a mix between electronic warbles and a serenading acoustic guitar. Over this oil and water instrumental pair, Hives singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist ("Howlin'" is probably not on his birth certificate, though it is a rather fitting descriptor) sings, as opposed to screams, about finding another girl who will "save her love and kisses just for you". By the time this song this song reaches its halfway point, you will be begging for the noisy guitars and inaudible lyrics of the first seven songs to return. Thankfully, The Hives oblige, but not before dragging the song out long enough to make it the second-longest on the album. | |
| The fact that I am fretting about not being able to make out the words to these songs is a bit misleading. This should be taken as another case of addition by subtraction, by which I mean that what Almqvist is actually saying is not particularly intelligent or useful enough to want to hear in the first place. A few samples: | |
| "Had an atomic bore in 2004 / Did some atomics tricks in 2006 / I got out way late in 2008 / I'm gonna do it again in 2010 / And for 5, 7, 9, and 11, the guess is yours" - The Hives - Declare Guerre Nucleaire (this is actually the whole song) | |
| "Hey! I lost the money, seems like I can't comprehend it / Yeah! Got a hole in my head, gotta, gotta mend it / Too messed up to sit and settle down / Too messed up to even mess around / That's why you're smiling, Mr. CEO" - Die, All Right! | |
| "I had a tension, I had a ten / I was a better, honey / So I did it again" - A Get Together Tear it Apart | |
| And these excerpts are only taken from the first three tracks of Veni Vidi Vicious. It could have been much worse. | |
| However, in many songs, it is easy to overlook meaningless lyrics if the melody is catchy and makes you want to listen over and over. This is what The Hives should be aiming for, since they do it well on songs like "Main Offender". While the lyrics are in no way profound, and the opening guitar is curiously reminiscent of Blur's "Parklife", this is truly a song that I enjoy, mainly due to its hooky guitar riff and excellent off-kilter drumming. | |
| Sadly, these moments are few and far between on what is supposedly The Hives' breakthrough album, Veni Vidi Vicious. If you must try some music from this CD, make sure it is "Main Offender" or "Hate to Say I Told You So". Just don't expect the other ten tracks to be as good. And whatever you do, do not listen to "Find Another Girl". Consider this a warning. | |
| Rating: 3.8 | |
| - Luke Adams |
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