Eyes Set to Kill: Reach

by Stefan Halley

Make the screaming stop.

---

Have you ever thought, “Man, wouldn’t it be great if Evanescence and System of a Down made an album together.”?  If you’re one of those poor misguided souls, your wait is over.  Eyes Set to Kill is a little bit emo and a little bit metal, resulting in a bad blend of both.  It would be difficult for even the best band to pull this off.  Eyes Set to Kill does half of it right on their album Reach.  The problem is the other half is so bad that it ruins the parts that do work.

Their debut album is filled with moody, depressing, blood soaked imagery, with the kind of lyrics that would have made The Toadies proud.  Lead singer Alexia Rodriguez’s voice is beautiful and sells the songs.  That is until the screaming of keyboardist Brandon Anderson starts and the music goes horribly, horribly wrong.  On the one track where the Rodriguez is solely focused, Eyes Set to Kill shines and they perform solidly.  The rest of Reach is a mess of the sublime and the misshapen. 

Reach opens with a dynamic piano joined by guitars.  It’s a nice introduction to the sound of the band and provides false hope for the listener.  Then the nightmare begins with “Song 2”.  Alexia belts out the lyrics and everything sounds fine until 36 seconds into the song.  Then your jaw drops and you wonder what the hell just happened as Brandon’s unintelligible screaming begins.  It’s not until the tenth song that we get a track without the screaming and you get a chance to see the potential of the band. 

If Eyes Set to Kill can get rid of the screaming, they have a chance to excel.  With strong lyrics, stunning vocals by Rodriguez and solid guitar work by Rodriquez and Greg Kerwin, Eyes Set to Kill have the possibility to standout.  If you can get through the screaming, Reach has lots to like.  Sadly, I could not.