Review Summary: The female/male vocal duo is creative for the genre.
Post-Hardcore, the genre that has in recent years exploded into the Hot Topic scene only to be overshadowed by the Metalcore and Deathcore bands is in dire need of a facelift. Tempe, Arizona’s Eyes Set To Kill is hoping to be the band to give Post-Hardcore that facelift. For more than ten months, the band was marked as Myspace’s number one unsigned band, as mention in their press kit, until they signed to BreakSilence Records. Since forming in 2004 Eyes Set To Kill have supported Papa Roach, (hed)p.e., Kittie, Walls Of Jericho, and In This Moment. On February 19th, Eyes Set to Kill will be releasing their debut album
Reach. Is it the breath of fresh air the band was hopping to give the Post-Hardcore scene?
First let me state two things; Alexia has a great singing voice, and Brandon is already on top of his game as a screamer. They both really benefit from the contrasting Male/Female vocal style this band presents. Brandon easily rates as one of the top screamers in the genre. The duo of Alexia and Brandon really shows how well they gel when they offer up duel vocals on the title track. The later on during the same track Alexia and Anissa have they own duel vocal part. Alexia does a good job on clean vocals but they do get dull in the middle of the album. To fix this slight problem the band can give Anissa more vocal duties and bring her more into the band’s sound. It would also show more dimensions of the band seeing that Alexia has a rougher vocal style compared to Anissa’s more dreamy style of vocals. Alexia really shines in the beginning and middle of the track
Young Blood Spills Tonight. You can hear the emotion in her voice as she sings mostly without backing instruments. When Alexia’s Vocals are on the edge of really bringing the band down with almost no variation, she steps it back up on
Only Holding On and
Behind These Eyes.
The band also uses Piano and Synth Keyboards. Alexia and Brandon take care of this aspect also. Brandon helps the end of the title track with his keyboard part. Alexia then shines on her opening Piano part on
Where We Started. The lyrics are primary wrote by Alexia and she writes about frustration, anxiety, relationships, isolation, and correction one’s past. In
Young Blood Spills Tonight Alexia deals with the pain of divorce through the perspective of her and her mother:
Quote:
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Sip my blood till there’s no blood left to spill from my neck. I’m embraced by a concealed grip I welcomed in my arms.
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On guitars, you have Alexia and Greg, and they start the album out with distorted guitars on
Sketch in Black & White. Then closer to the end of “Sketch in Black & White,” they add a great melodic guitar part.
Darling starts out like a very good Deathcore song and then fades back into post-hardcore. “Darling” is one of the hardest tracks on the album, you can even hear Anissa’s bass in the song. In the middle of
Violent Kiss, the guitars really make the song in the short amount of time they have to really shine in the spotlight.
Young Blood Spills Tonight begins with a nice acoustic guitar riff. It is tasteful and melds together well with Alexia’s voice. It also shows how the guitars really do add emotion into the songs. Near the beginning of
Where We Reach, there’s a nice solo that fits well into the song and doesn’t overpower. A nice melodic riff is found in the middle of
Behind These Eyes, and eventually leads into some nice sweeping and back into the beginning riff.
Caleb, the drummer, really likes to use the double bass and snare drums. While he does use the double bass a lot, he does know when not to use it. Caleb also starts out the title track with some fast drumming on the snare drums. He mostly holds down the fort, but he does help in the small but important places, ex. the free space in
Violent Kiss. Caleb rarely gets the spotlight, but when he does, he takes full advantage of it. The whole album flows really well and even allows for a slower, softer track like
Give You My All. The middle of the album lags slightly, but
Only Holding On brings back the freshness from the beginning of the album. Then
Behind These Eyes continues the trend and ends the album out very well.
Is this a fresh sound in Post-Hardcore? Yes and no, the female/male vocal duo is creative for the genre, but many people will complain that it sounds just like every other Post-Hardcore band around. I guess it just depends on who is listening and what they think a fresh sound should sound like. I think a fresh sound should sound like this.
3.5/5
