It takes a certain swagger to name your album The Hives Forever Forever The Hives. But then again, few bands have worn their confidence like a tailored suit quite like Sweden’s finest rock and roll export. On their seventh studio album, the band double down on everything they do best: cocky charm, volcanic riffs, and an arena-shaking sense of fun that borders on the divine.

Originally detonating in the early 2000s garage rock boom, the Hives have outlasted nearly all their peers by sticking to a simple formula - look sharp, play louder, and never, ever let the energy dip. On The Hives Forever Forever The Hives, they sound as rabid and focused as ever, bottling the high-wire thrill of their live show into 12 tracks that come off like a greatest hits album from another timeline, one where they’ve already taken over the world. “This is us at the peak of our powers,” says frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist. “Who gets to say that 30+ years in? That’s right. Nobody.”

He might be right. Recorded largely in single takes at Stockholm’s Riksmixningsverket (owned by ABBA’s Benny Andersson, because of course it is), the album is a glorious, blown-out blitz of rock’s loudest virtues. Produced by longtime collaborator Pelle Gunnerfeldt (Viagra Boys, Yung Lean) the album was turbocharged with input from Mike D of the Beastie Boys, who flew out to Sweden to personally contribute. Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme also lent his ears, while pop mastermind Shellback checked in. But make no mistake, this is a Hives album, through and through.

Almqvist, along with guitarist Nicholaus Arson, guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem, bassist The Johan and Only, and drummer Chris Dangerous don’t so much perform as explode. They play like they’ve only got one shot to convince you that rock is far from dead while kicking the walls in. And they succeed. “We wanted to make a Hives arena album,” Almqvist explains. “Touring with the Stones and AC/DC gave us the idea - let’s try to make something big. But of course, we can’t help but sound like the Hives anyway.” That self-awareness, mixed with unshakable confidence, is what makes Forever so fun. It feels like a spectacle. An event. The kind of thing rock used to be when it still believed it could take over the world. And maybe it can again.

For those keeping score at home, the Hives are still the best-dressed, most dangerous band in the room, and they’ve just added another chapter to their glorious, sweaty gospel. If you’ve ever loved rock and roll for its wild-eyed joy, now would be a good time to plug in and believe again. And for the rest of us aging out of our twenties (or thirties... or forties), the Hives might just be the forever soundtrack we didn’t know we needed.