It’s been just over a year since I reviewed Eyes Set to Kill’s third album, Broken Frames. It was one of my earliest reviews for Metal Delirium. A lot has changed in that year, and reviewing their new album, White Lotus feels like going home. Maybe that’s why I’m so disappointed by it.
Eyes Set to Kill have taken the saying, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” to heart with White Lotus. While that saying may hold true in some cases, it rarely does with music. They haven’t changed their sound or style much at all. That’s not a terrible thing, but instead of feeling like they’ve made a progression here it just seems like they’ve plateaued. Songs like “The Secrets Between” and “Forget” pack a punch, but they aren’t anything we haven’t heard from ESTK before.
Alexia Rodriguez sounds amazing as she always does. Her beautiful singing is countered by harsher make vocals as usual. Cisko Miranda does a decent job of this but at times seems very basic alongside Alexia. He even does a few cleans in some of the songs like in “Erasing Everything” which is a nice change.
The songs on White Lotus are all good, but few are great. Not much sets them apart from each other or makes them really stand out. “Where I Want to Be” and “Erasing Everything” are two of the better tracks. The songwriting is solid and Alexia’s personal lyrics are nice. I just don’t feel like this album is a step up from Broken Frames or even The World Outside. A cover of the Nirvana song “Polly” doesn’t help matters much. Not even Alexia’s vocals can save that song.
This is a decent album that I did enjoy. I just had much higher hopes for it I guess. The band’s overall sound seems to be stagnating. Alexia and Anissa are far too talented for this to be happening.
Rating: 7.5/10
Loading ...