ALBUM REVIEW: Sickness – Create To Inspire
Writing a debut is a daunting task and one that often comes with the pretty hefty ask of having you define your bands sound and making a big enough statement to make people drop everything and pay attention. Whilst what CREATE TO INSPIRE have done with Sickness is create an great first glimpse into what could be a very deep well of talent, they don’t exactly do well enough to stick the mind.
The basic blueprint of the CREATE TO INSPIRE sound likes with post-hardcore and metalcore. The clean and scream vocal combination plays into the bands strengths, with the melodic guitar leads playing as an excellent bed for the vocals that serve as the highlight for the majority of the cuts on Sickness. Opening song Agony is an early contender for best song on the album, with a chorus that will be difficult to forget over the album. Regret sounds like it has been ripped straight from a BEING AS AN OCEAN album, with the depressing chords and recognisable guitar leads. It certainly works well, but it doesn’t help CREATE TO INSPIRE stand out from one of the most saturated genres in the alternative scene.
The title track serves as a standout moment, with another confident chorus and wailing guitars that fade into the mix to add moments of real colour to the music. Throughout the album there are moments where the band begin to show their more metalcore alignments with heavy, chugged rhythm guitars that help carry the tunes along but remain so far back in the mix they feel utterly muzzled. Sickness bleeds into Cope with nice ease, letting the energy remain at its highest, something that the whole album does very well actually. The album is very well paced with well time moments of serenity, like the calming tones of Loss that play as a nice mid album reflection.
Ultimately, Sickness feels a little weak, and a little tame in the grand scheme of things. CREATE TO INSPIRE don’t really step outside the box all that much with Sickness, instead choosing to confidently deliver some tight post-hardcore musings that rarely does anything to stand out, aside from some genuine moments of brightness. It’s a shame that by the end of the album you are left in somewhat of a disappointed state, with the whole album feeling like the band are on the brink of something really great but just not quite nailing it down. There is clear talent here, and the band have obvious ability but they just need to start carving out their own identity before they can truly start the ascension.
Rating: 6/10
Sickness is set for release on May 26th via Basick Records.
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