- Inside
- Sights and Sounds
- In Your Eyes
- The Deep
- You Remain
- Burn the Bridges
- Breakthrough
- The Reel to Real
- The New Jerusalem
- March On
- The Waiting
Hailing from Portland, Maine, The Wrecking has played a variety of Christian and mainstream venues since forming in 2001, and now makes their national debut through a partnership between indie label Chosen Records and the Christian music division of Universal Music. Additionally, the band is closely involved with several ministries and organizations, including International Justice Mission and Love146, both committed to abolishing child sex trafficking.
Such passion for social justice might have been expressed through at least one song on
The album itself is in similar need of a musical identity, relying on generic Christian pop/rock conventions. The leadoff song "Inside" (previously highlighted on the best-of indie artists compilation Underground Sound, Volume One) has a synth-laden modern rock style similar to Newsboys and After Edmund; pop ballad "You Remain" also fits that profile. But "Sights and Sounds" recalls the simplistic rock of By the Tree, while "The Deep" (inspired partly by
Things improve dramatically midway through the album, embracing a far more interesting jazzy pop/rock flavor for "Burn the Bridges," "Breakthrough," and "The New Jerusalem"—all three sound like a neophyte MuteMath or the short-lived All Together Separate. From there, The Wrecking throws in some urban influences for "March On" and "The Waiting" that evoke Earthsuit or the softer side of P.O.D.
This stylistic inconsistency makes the album like a compilation of two different EPs from two different bands. Even the lyrics are inconsistent, ranging from Christian pop/rock clichés to imaginative-but-clumsy lines like the chorus from "Reel to Real," using audio jargon as a metaphor for spiritual renewal: "I'm nothing but a trespasser, barely escaping disaster/And I'm thinking to myself, son/Pull the tape, it's time to remaster."
Strange how The Wrecking at times sounds as if they're trying too hard, but at other points, not hard enough.