So Much for Love

The Wrecking’s long-delayed sophomore album, So Much for Love, delivers with bracing guitar riffs, flowing keyboards, and choruses that ascend to lofty melodic heights. The Portland, Maine–based Christian pop/rock combo stakes out territory somewhere between the brawny post-grunge of Foo Fighters and the coolly insinuating atmospherics of Radiohead, with a touch of OneRepublic thrown in. Doug Elder proves himself a persuasive frontman, able to pull off arena rock heroics without losing his testimony's personal edge. Galvanizing tunes like “Fire,” “View from the Top," and “The Reason” are bold declarations of faith with the feel of natural radio hits. More subdued but no less spiritually fervent are such electronica-tinged tracks as “Electricity” and “Fighting for Something.” The shimmering shuffle “Our Feet Don’t Touch the Ground” offers hosannas to the Creator in the enraptured tones of a love song. The Wrecking does a good job at tapping into Scriptural themes, as the Psalm-inspired “Let Everything Sing” shows. Whether it simmers or erupts, the theme of redemption remains constant, driven home with both lyrical sensitivity and musical muscle.