Music Review: The Wedding - The Sound, The Steel EP

Genre: Rock
Label: Brave New World
Release Date: June 17, 2008

Rating: 4/5

The Wedding is one of those bands I’ve kept meaning to check out, but just never have for some reason. They’ve made the way to my iTunes wish list a few times, but something else always caught my attention, pushing the Fayetteville, AK rockers to the side again. Because of this, I was glad to be assigned this EP, even though it’s been out for such a long time. Gave me just the excuse I needed.

The Sound, The Steel EP is only 5 songs, but they pack quite a punch. Blending elements of punk, rock, and pop, these 5 songs are diverse enough to provide an interesting musical journey despite the short length. From the upbeat, punkish “Receive” to the piano-driven “Renew,” which highlights Matt Shelton’s extremely solid vocals, I found a lot to love in this little collection. “Reveal” is a fantastic (albeit musically typical) modern rock song, and the EP closes out with “Redeem,” probably my favorite song on the album, both lyrically and musically. The crescendo towards the end of the song is powerful, capturing the concept of redemption within the sound itself.

I’ve listened to these songs multiple times, and I’m hard pressed to find a whole lot to criticize. True, The Wedding isn’t really going to blow you away with a sound you’ve never heard before, but this is just great rock music, with enough musical surprises and lyrical imagery to keep you interested throughout. There are catchy guitar riffs, a couple solos, and great vocals and songwriting.

I’m hard-pressed to remember ever hearing an EP that was more satisfying than this little gem. Typically, EPs just give you a couple good songs with a few fillers, just trying to entice you to check out the full length album later. On this, I was satisfied and left wanting more at the same time…you know what I mean. The collection stands all on its own, but I’m definitely going to head back to iTunes and pick up The Wedding’s earlier stuff and hope it’s as good as this EP.



*This album was provided for review by Brave New World Records.