''Lex Hives'' is the fifth full-length album by Swedish rock band

The Hives The Hives are a Swedish rock band that rose to prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the album '' Veni Vidi Vicious'', containing the single "Hate to Say I Told You So". ...

. The album was released on 1 June 2012 in Sweden, and internationally from 4 June 2012. ''Lex Hives'' was self-produced by The Hives and mixed by

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

winner

Andrew Scheps Andrew Scheps is an American mix engineer, recording engineer, record producer, and record label owner, based in Los Angeles and the United Kingdom. He received Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album for his work on Red Hot Chili Peppers' ''Stadium A ...

(

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Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a rec ...

), with two additional tracks mixed by D. Sardy (

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical styl ...

) and Joe Zook (

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing ...

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influence ...

). The deluxe version features bonus tracks (digital download only) produced by

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple lin ...

frontman

Josh Homme Joshua Michael Homme ( ; born May 17, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the founder, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he for ...

. The term "Lex Hives" is a phrase derived from the ancient Roman practice of enacting a system or body of laws and accepting them as a standard. It became the last album from the band to feature bassist Dr. Matt Destruction as he left due to health reasons in late 2013 and was replaced by

Randy Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...

bassist Johan Gustafsson, under the stage name The Johan and Only.

Background

After recording two albums ('' Tyrannosaurus Hives'', '' The Black and White Album'') for the

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

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label, the band did not want to extend the deal, and so the band found themselves as free agents. The Hives responded by going

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for their fifth album. ''Lex Hives'' was self-funded and self-produced, and has been issued on the band's own ''Disques Hives'' imprint. As for why the band took five years between albums, frontman

Howlin' Pelle Almqvist Per "Pelle" Almqvist (born 29 May 1978), also known as Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer of garage rock band The Hives. Biography Almqvist was born to a doctor father and a teacher mother. Almq ...

noted the group toured for nearly three years after ''The Black and White Album'', but added that self-producing an album with a five-piece band is not the quickest of ways to reach a consensus. "We thought it would be faster if we produced it ourselves as opposed to scheduling it with someone who’s busy 24-7, 365 days per year," Almqvist said. "Rather than squeeze in some studio time, we could go into the studio whenever we wanted. It turns out that having five producers who have an equal say of everything isn’t that fast. You’d think we could have guessed that in advance." For promotion, The Hives initiated a contest on social networking website

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on 23 March 2012. A news update on their official website revealed the song titles on 12 tracks however they were purposely jumbled up. Fans had to post their guesses as to what they thought the tracks were called on the band's official Facebook page. It stated that the first person to unscramble all the song titles correctly would ''"receive a phone call from The Hives."'' The band announced the grand prize winner and 17 runners-up on their Facebook page on 6 April 2012.

Reception

The album debuted at number 7 on the Swedish chart, 20 on the Swiss chart, 38 on the Austrian chart, 38 on the Australian chart and 53 on the

Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Oce ...

. The album received generally favorable reviews from critics.

Track listing

Notes :1. Both bonus tracks (13, 14) are cover songs, but are directly related to one of The Hives' members in some way. "High School Shuffle" is a cover of an Alex Carole and The Crush song that was produced by

Chris Dangerous Christian Grahn (born ''Arne Christian Jääskeläinen''; 12 June 1978), known professionally by his stage name Chris Dangerous, is the drummer of Swedish rock band, The Hives. Biography Grahn began playing drums at age of nine. Growing up in Fa ...

(drums). "Insane" is a cover of The Dragtones' original, and

Vigilante Carlstroem Mikael Karlsson (born 30 October 1978), better known by his stage name Vigilante Carlstroem, is the rhythm guitarist of the critically acclaimed Swedish garage rock band The Hives. Biography Vigilante started playing guitar at the age of ten an ...

(guitar) is a member of that band. :2. " Go Right Ahead" has songwriting also credited to

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, he has cont ...

since the band got permission to include a similar riff to

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's "

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Personnel

The Hives *

– vocals, vocoder * Nicholaus Arson – lead guitar, backing vocals *

– rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Dr. Matt Destruction – bass guitar *

– drums Additional musicians and personnel * Gustav Bendt – saxophone * Per Ruskträsk Johansson – saxophone *

Jonas Kullhammar Jonas Kullhammar (2 September 1978 in Nacka, Sweden) is a Swedish jazz composer, saxophonist and is one of Sweden's most established jazz musicians. Career Since 1998 his main group has been Jonas Kullhammar Quartet, and he has participated ...

– saxophone * Henrik Alsér engineer * Michael Ilbert – engineer * Karl Larsson – engineer * Dagge Lundquist – engineer * Johan Gustavsson – engineer * Kalle Gustavsson – engineer * Justin Smith – engineer * Janne Hansson – engineer * Linn Fijal – assistant engineer *

– composer * Stephen Marcussen – mastering *

– mixing * Joe Zook – mixing

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lex Hives 2012 albums The Hives albums Self-released albums