It’s been a vintage year for The Militia Group. When you consider both the Cartel and The Rocket Summer releases managed to get into my top five of the year – as well as many other people’s – and yet they still had several other great CDs out too, you know the roster is strong. The Class Of 98 may well be unknown to a lot of people now, but I bet they’re not at this time next year. Imagine Acceptance crossed with All American Rejects and influenced by a poppier Jimmy Eat World, all with that trademarked TMG sound. In short, this is good shit.
“No, we didn’t graduate in 1998,” the band proclaim in their bio. “The name The Class of 98 is really more about coming of age and growing. It’s about getting out of your comfort zone to realize just what you’re put here for. It’s about taking risks while not taking yourself too seriously.” But what The Class of 98 do take seriously is their ability to write really catchy songs. There’s no aggression or screaming, no need to over-egg the pudding with super slick promotion. Instead the band put their faith in being able to write catchy melodies with huge choruses – and in the main they succeed at every opportunity.
How anyone can say ‘Hundreds And Thousands Of Stars’ is not gorgeous is beyond me. I mean sure, it’s lyrically cliched and been done a million times before, but there’s a charm here that I’ve quite literally fallen in love with. ‘Anthem For Us’ and ‘Pretend I’m Ok’ are little gems too, indicative of a band that is right on top of their game. The Class of 98 are tight as a nut, yet still manage to squeeze pop songs out of every nook and cranny.
‘Touch This And Die!’ isn’t actually out until the end of January, but get your pre-orders in because this is lovely. It seems fitting one of TMG’s last signings of the year is every bit as good as their first – if there’s been a more consistent label releasing records in 2005 I’d be amazed. Forget ‘Touch This And Die!’ – this record is more like ‘touch this and turn to gold’.
www.myspace.com/theclassof98
The Militia Group
Paul