Heavily indebted to the likes of
Relient K and all the other Christian pop-punk acts that came before,
the Wedding's debut album doesn't bring much new to the genre. Its primary flaw is that the young bandmembers have not yet synthesized their influences, so the album ping-pongs back and forth between the more melodic side of pop-punk and a far more aggressive brand of post-hardcore emo, without sounding entirely comfortable on either end of the spectrum. The most effective songs on
The Wedding are those that split the difference, such as the anthemic, harmony-driven "Move This City" and the spiky but tuneful "Morning Air." On either extreme, grinding, shouty emo like "Song for the Broken" and blatantly mainstream pop like "Price for Love," which sounds like the devotional power ballad
the Wedding trot out to please the parents who have driven their kids to their gigs, don't really sound like they belong on the same album with each other. ~ Stewart Mason