The Hives Forever Forever the Hives

On 1 April 2025, the Hives announced their seventh studio album The Hives Forever Forever the Hives, alongside the release of the lead single "Enough Is Enough", and details of a world tour beginning in July 2025.^[2]

Recording sessions for the album took place at Riksmixningsverket, a studio owned by ABBA's Benny Andersson and at Year0001's Stockholm studio, associated with Swedish rapper Yung Lean. The album was co-produced by longtime collaborator Pelle Gunnerfeldt and Beastie Boys member Mike D. Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme contributed to the album in an advisory role.^[16]

In a statement accompanying the announcement, the band described it as "a new record so full of energy, joy, anger and life that you will be questioning reality as you have known it... Every single song a single, every single single a hit, every hit a direct hit in the face of the man."^[17]

In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, frontman Pelle Almqvist recalled the band's reaction to Mike D's presence in the studio:

Mike D from the Beastie Boys came to the studio in Stockholm on the first day we were in there. We were recording the album with Pelle Gunnerfeldt, who's our usual producer and mentor. He's been around since our first album [Barely Legal]. We're all big Beastie Boys fans, but I think he might be the biggest one. When Mike showed up, everyone was like, "This is going to be fun". But then, everybody got really nervous pretty quickly. Pelle started stumbling over cables, and connecting things the wrong way. It was pretty funny.^[18]

Steve Beebee of Kerrang! praised the album's "breakneck" energy and hook-driven songwriting, describing it as "as uncorrupted a rock album as any released this year". He wrote that the band successfully continued their established formula while keeping "excitement levels high".^[8]

Writing for Mojo, James McNair praised the album's "deeply felt and furious riffage" and noted that the band remained "amped up to 11" decades into their career. He also highlighted the album's stylistic experimentation, comparing the title track to "The Strokes going electro" and describing "Path Of Most Resistance" as featuring a "Devo-ish" guitar hook.^[9]

Luke Von Rinehart of New Noise Magazine wrote that the album continued the band's "signature recipe of killer riffs and rockin’ anthems". He highlighted tracks such as "Paint A Picture" and "Born A Rebel" for balancing intensity with musical variety, concluding that the group remained "consistent and dependable" garage rock performers.^[11]

Heather Phares of AllMusic described the album as "among the Hives' most consistent", praising its balance of "blunt force, sharp wit, and refusal to sit still". She highlighted the band's continued political undercurrent and musical versatility, while noting that the album successfully revisited styles from across the group's earlier work.^[7]

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.^[19]