The Militia Group recently introduced their roster of bands (and a few extras) with the aptly titled comp, Hello, We Are The Militia Group. This comp features 14 artists/bands (some of which contributed rare/previously unreleased songs) and an anonymous hidden track covering a Foo Fighters song.
I haven't heard many of these bands before. And I'll be honest, there are some bands on here I probably wouldn't listen to again. But we'll start with the positives. Right off the bat, hearing The Beautiful Mistake do an acoustic version of "Fragile Fingers" blew me away. It's odd hearing this normally hard/screamy band mellow out, but proving that their talent is multi-faceted, they pull it off magnificently.
Anadivine is one of my new favorite bands now. Have you heard them? Yeah, you need to. With their song "Alcohol and Oxygen", they prove that their music writing is just as strong as their lyrics. They combine screaming and singing, which is one of my secret obsessions in music, but still somehow manage to bring out a certain poppy nature to the song.
Copeland offers us one of their more popular songs from their debut full length (Beneath Medicine Tree) called "Walking Downtown" and also an alternate version of "Testing the Strong Ones". We all know and love "Walking Downtown", but "Testing the Strong Ones" is the soft and calming side of the original that we hadn't heard. It's still very reminiscent of the original, but filled rather with harmonies and overlapping vocals, rolling drums and stripped down melodies.
Brandtson. No matter what I say here, I'm automatically biased because of my husband being in the band. But I think I can get away with saying that I love their cover of The Police's "King of Pain" better than the original. Is that bad? I'm a Sting fan through and through, but Brandtson managed to put in all of the characteristics from The Police version and then add their own style to it, producing a song that could rival anything on the radio.
Other honorable mentions include Denison Witmer, whose song "24 turned 25" is typical, wonderful Witmer style, with his laidback vocals and lush guitar tones and Acceptance, who I have never heard before, but with their song "Seeing is Believing", I may have found a new favorite rock band. Noise Ratchet finished off the comp with their song "When Losing Ends", a driving rock song with a full melody backing up the powerful vocals.
I have also discovered with this comp that I'm not a fan of The Lyndsay Diaries, Blueprint Car Crash, Big Collapse and Rufio. Don't shoot me. The reason for this is more vocally based than anything. Both singers from The Lyndsay Diaries and Rufio have a higher, almost whiny tone to their singing and I just couldn't make it through the songs because of this. Blueprint Car Crash's song "What Smiles Behind her Running Mascara" started off with some vocals played backward in a jarring, albeit ear-catching way which led to a cacophonous jumble of screaming and singing that didn't seem to fit any certain melody. I had a hard time following it.
Big Collapse began the record with their song "Pull Out the Guts" and it was catchy enough in a 90s rock style, but I don't know if I would have had this as the first track. It's a pretty typical rock song, but nothing too memorable.
Overall, this is a first-rate comp to pick up if you are either new to the Militia Group or a long-time, obsessive fan. It will give you an idea if you like the direction TMG has taken with the bands they sign and for the most part, I can honestly say I'm a pretty big TMG fan.
3/4
