When the Hives first came on the scene two years ago, their stylishly retro brand of garage rock was hailed as a breath of fresh air. Since then, however, fashions have moved on - and the sharp-suited Swedes have failed to move with them. Their second international release is more or less a carbon copy of the first one - which doesn't exactly make it a bad album, but does make it hard to get excited about. Twelve rather aimless compositions are rattled through in just over 30 minutes, though the sheer lack of surprises makes it seem like longer - apart from the presence of strings on one track, there's absolutely no variety from song to song. The Hives are certainly good at what they do and they've provided us with plenty of good, harmless fun. But if they can't come up with any new tricks, they might as well quit while the going is good.
