Sounding like the bastard love child of Beartooth, Palm Reader and letlive., Create To Inspire achieve a feat that many bands of their type struggle so much with – the balance of melody and aggression.
On this four-track EP, titled ‘Home Is Where My Heart Dies’, Create To Inspire provide the perfect taster selection to what they are capable of, delivered with great flair, style, and execution, it triumphs not only in its songwriting but also in its production.
Throwing some ‘80s/’90s style hardcore riffs with huge, melodic metalcore-esque choruses provides a great one-two on the opening tracks ‘History’ and ‘Counting Days’, which fly out the traps with aggressive pace and swagger. It’s Create To Inspire’s ability to jump between giant singalong moments and mosh-inducing riffage that is their greatest strength, and something they are fully aware of.
‘Home Is Where My Heart Dies’ covers a lot of ground, with ‘Don’t Let Go’ showing the bands more progressive side – sweeping clean sections and ambient lead lines building to even bigger melodic output than seen on any of the previous tracks. Closing out with the EP’s title track, it’s another 3 minutes of riff and chorus to-and-fro that sounds written for the stage – something designed to be played live, and loudly.
Mastering the art of the singalong and biblical sized chorus, with punishing riffs, Create To Inspire are on to something very strong, very impressive here – the only shame being that it’s a four track EP. ‘Home Is Where My Heart Dies’ leaves you constantly craving more, hitting the play button again and again when it finishes.
CHRIS ROBINSON