The Hives Return with “The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons”
Swedish rock band The Hives have just released The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, marking their first studio album in 11 years. Although the sound has evolved, the “Hate to Say I Told You So” band has picked up where they left off with punk-fueled rock and roll.
“We desperately want the songs to feel like new songs, not exactly like old Hives songs,” singer Pelle Almqvist told Rolling Stone. “There are claims that ‘all the Hives songs sound the same,’ but my answer is that we’re sharks. Sharks have been the same for billions of years, and they still rule. You have no need for development if you’re a shark. You don’t evolve since nothing kills you.”
Although he departed the band in 2013 due to health issues, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons marks the first album without bassist Dr. Matt Destruction, aka Mattias Bernvall. The Johan and Only, aka Johan Gustafsson, joined the band the same year, but this record also marks the band’s first full-length with him.
Gustafsson dishes out big, dirty bass lines to help propel the record’s high-energy jams. Check out the video to “Countdown to Shutdown”:
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons is available now on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons Track List:
- Bogus Operandi
- Trapdoor Solution
- Countdown to Shutdown
- Rigor Mortis Radio
- Stick Up
- Smoke & Mirrors
- Crash into the Weekend
- Two Kinds of Trouble
- That’s the Way the Story Goes
- The Bomb
- What Did I Ever Do To You?
- Step Out of the Way
