Review: The Hives – The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons

The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons sounds straight from the 2000s garage rock revival, and is all the better for it.

 

The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons is the Hives’ first album in 11 years, and it sounds like it could have been released right in the middle of their 2000s heyday. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise to anyone who has followed the band this far. The Hives have always stood apart from all of the other “The (Noun)s” bands from the  great garage rock revival, if nothing else for their consistency. While the White Stripes broke up, the Strokes tried new styles, and everyone kind of forgot about the Vines, the Hives were always just about rocking out.

And rock out they do on The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, their sixth studio release. Over the course of a dozen tracks and half an hour, the Hives almost never take their foot off of the gas. Each track is packed with power chords, basslines played like guitar riffs, fast tempo snare-heavy drumming, and frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist’s very distinctive shouted vocals. Yes, this is the formula for every Hives song ever, but after 30 years together as a band, it’s at least done with an unmatched degree of confidence.

</center?If you’ve listened to any of the Hives’ previous five albums, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons will sound extremely familiar. Lead single “Bogus Operandi” features the band’s best use of backing vocals since their 2007 megahit “Tick Tick Boom,” and kicks off the album with a pun just as “Abra Cadaver” did on 2004’s Tyrannosaurus Hives. “Rigor Mortis Radio” has a stomping and clapping beat that echoes the single “Go Right Ahead” from 2012’s Lex Hives. The disconnected chords of “Two Kinds of Trouble” follow a similar progression to the melody of their breakthrough hit “Hate to Say I Told You So” from 2001’s Veni Vidi Vicious. Even the titular Randy Fitzsimmons refers to the band’s fictional manager and principal songwriter, the legendary “sixth Hive” who has been credited on each album since their inception.

This doesn’t mean The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons is an entirely predictable affair. The Hives are well-known for their funny and engaging live shows, fully embracing their bombastic personas. This shows on the track “The Bomb,” where the call-and-response chorus begins “What you wanna do? Go off!” and dissolves into “What don’t you wanna not don’t wanna do? Not go off!” They also show their dexterity with brevity, as the song “Trapdoor Solution” is their second-shortest ever, packing in a surprising amount of vigor into one minute. Lastly, the penultimate track “What Did I Ever Do to You?” provides an unexpected cooldown, swapping the erstwhile frantic drumming for a steadier beat. This, combined with an unprecedented amount of synthesizer and a twangy guitar line, makes it workable as a hip-hop backtrack, but Almqvist doesn’t attempt to rap. Instead, he gives a slightly more earnest vocal delivery, setting the track apart from other slowed-down Hives songs like “Puppet on a String” or “Find Yourself Another Girl.”

There’s an unexpected benefit of the 11-year gap between Lex Hives and The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons. Much like how the contents of a time capsule are typically worth little during the years they’re stowed away before being opened back up, the Hives have gone from being one of many garage rock revival bands to arguably the only one still doing garage rock. The first five Hives albums were subject to the law of diminishing returns, but in 2023, it’s hard to think of anyone else who sounds like them. Granted, this means a near-term repeat performance would be less thrilling, but for now, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons is good excuse to party like it’s 2005.

Rating: 7/10