The hard rocking Swedes come back from their five year hiatus to release their fifth studio album.
Over that five year period the band dropped its former label and formed their own record company and this is the first release on the Disque Hives label. The standard disc has twelve self-produced tracks although you can purchase a deluxe, digital-only version of the album with two additional tracks produced by Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme.
As you would expect, the album has a fervent energy that begins straight from its short opener, "Come On!", with its thumping drums and soaring guitar licks. Next up is the catchy ELO homage and the most accessible track from the album, "Go Right Ahead." That song, which features a rousing rising guitar riff straight from ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down", is an infectious rock anthem that will be blasted at summer BBQs and beach parties all of this year.
The raucous fun continues from there with the witty "1000 Answers" and the more throwback "Patrolling Days" which has a bluesier influences.
Lex Hives ends up being a fun and energy filled album that grows on you with repeated listens. You may not fall in love with the album on your first listen but you can discern really creative and clever touches to the tracks each time you listen to them. Even non-fans of the band should give this album a fair shot as there is beauty to be found that becomes more readily apparent on repeated listens.
Song(s) to Sample: "Go Right Ahead" [sample it below], "Without the Money" and "1000 Answers"
The New Orleans rapper enlists the help of a slew of big R&B artists for his eighth studio album.
Some of the artists getting "featured" credits on this album is very impressive. Wiz Khalifa is featured on two tracks while the following artists get credit on individual tracks: Pharrell, Estele, and Marsha Ambrosius.
Unfortunately, while those artists do bring a wide diversity to the tracks, the album itself seems to be all over the place not being able to find a common theme either in terms of the story the album is trying to tell nor in terms of having a cohesive musical bridging of melodies. So while there are individual songs that are worthy of your attention, the album is pieced together like a sloppy compilation disc.
The biggest breakout track is the Pharrell featured "Chasin' Papers" which samples the classic Nina Simone hit "Ooh Child" to maximum catchiness effect. Sadly, the tracks with Marsha Ambrosius and Estele don't exhibit the same creativity with those two artists' silky vocals being preceded by uninspired raps and surrounded by boring melodies.
The Stoned Immaculate has a couple of tracks that are worth checking out but the album as a whole is very inconsistent. You'll be better off just buying the tracks below as singles instead of shelling out the dough for the album as a whole.
Score: 6/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Chasin' Papers" [sample it below] and "What It Look Like"
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