Eyes Set To Kill – When Silence Is Broken, The Night Is Torn

“3 Girls, 3 Guys, Post Hardcore Music.
Lindsey Vogt – Vocals – age 18
Alexia Rodriguez – Lead Guitar – age 18
Anissa Rodriguez – bass – age 17
Brandon Anderson – screams – age 20
Caleb Clifton – drums – age 19
John Moody – guitar – age 19″

This was the first bit of information I saw on Eyes Set To Kill as I stared down at their bio that came along with the CD; and truthfully, it didn’t really excite me- instead it filled me with skepticism. You see, first of all, the description of “post-hardcore music” is normally a bad sign for me – and normally people who use that term to describe their sound are far from it. Secondly, the fact that Anderson gets credited with “screams” is a foreboding thing too. I mean, not even vocals, just “screams.” This once again placed Eyes Set To Kill in my distrust pile. Then, when I saw that Anderson was the oldest at a mere 20, I was even more skeptical (let me point out that I have no problem with younger people forming their own bands, hell, I’m only 19. But there’s just not always that experience there that is really needed for a CD to really blow me away, still you gotta start somewhere and When Silence Is Broken The Night Is Torn is as good as place as any to start).

The next day I sat down with the album and listened to it front and back, and I will admit that Eyes Set To Kill definitely blew my expectations out of the water and that When Silence Is Broken The Night Is Torn is a decidedly solid debut – it still does fall victim to some of my early skepticism.

First, the title “post hardcore” is very misleading, just like I expected it to be. Instead, Eyes Set To Kill fit much better in the emo/screamo category. This, of course, is not necessarily a bad – thing, and the six-piece have definitely been able to take the sound to a new level. Taking cues from the likes of I Am Ghost, Eyes Set To Kill test out some new ground – like the piano led Interlude or the melodic and soulfulBeauty Through Broken Glass. They do have some slight hardcore elements, like the heavy breakdown in Darling reminiscent of Protest The Hero, but the rest tends to fall far from the moniker.

The dark lyrics help cement them in the “emo” category as they are focused around gloomy images such as death, broken glass and blood. They’re written well, but you can’t help but find them somewhat generic too. Of course though, the highlight of the album and the thing that really makes Eyes Set To Kill stand out in an otherwise generic album is the vocal delivery from Lindsey Vogt. Her vocals are strong, incredibly polished, and quite astonishing. She has a strong reach, a slight similarity to Amy Lee (but a lot better), and is really what makes the songs stand out. Although, after a while even Vogt’s powerful vocals become stagnant and When Silence Is Broken The Night Is Torn falls into the generic pot of emo bands; Anderson screams help revive the sound a bit, kicking a bit of energy into the songs at much needed intervals – but even that isn’t enough to pull the album out of the pot completely.

This album isn’t bad. It’s better than I thought, Vogt’s vocals are impressive, there’s some good melodies and great guitar riffs – but it still sounds a bit too generic to really survive. With the right push, they’ll become huge- the next big emo band – but it just needs that little extra punch to get them there. As it is, When Silence Is Broken The Night Is Torn falls too short.