Eyes Set to Kill

Who ever thought of having vocal harmonies in heavy metal? Well, System of a Down, Evanescence, and Lacuna Coil, for starters, but the debut CD from Eyes Set to Kill proves that you don't have to be innovative to be sonically savvy. The core of ESTK — 17-year-old lead vocalist Lindsey Vogt, 18-year-old lead guitarist Alexia Rodriguez, and her 17-year-old sister Anissa Rodriguez (bass) — had a hard time finding boys who were willing to back them up, but they managed to nab vocalist/keyboardist Brandon Anderson for their ever-evolving co-ed lineup. Anderson's no screaming dummy — this trio of teenage girls from the Ahwatukee Foothills crafts surprisingly sophisticated metal hybrid compositions, mating male screamo vocals and chugging guitars with sweeping female vocal harmonies and touches of prog rock, like the keyboard solo in "Liar in the Glass," and the backward cymbal tracking in the middle of "Young Blood Spills Tonight." The studio wizard behind this ultra-clean juxtaposition of brutality and beauty is renowned local engineer Larry Elyea, who has a knack for making some bands sound heavier than an iron drawbridge — check out the brutal barrage of power chords in "This Love You Breathe" and the thunderous, machine-gun percussion in "Darling."