The Black and White Album

As expected, the fourth album from Swedish garage revellers The Hives comes stocked with sawing, clawing rave-ups: Opener “Tick Tick Boom” is appropriately incendiary, while actual cheer-squad harmonies underscore “Try It Again.” That said, frontman Pelle Almqvist actively widens the range of his trademark mouthiness, embracing falsetto for the funk-stabbed mission statement “T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.” and evangelizing like a raw-throated throwback on the early rock ‘n’ roll valentine “Well All Right!”—both produced by The Neptunes.