Eyes Set to Kill, Lost in Separation, Taranis

89th Street, Oklahoma City, OK

June 18, 2024

Review and Gallery by: Ally Arens

Hard rock/post-hardcore act Eyes Set to Kill recently kicked off the latest leg of their 15th anniversary tour in celebration of their 2008 debut album Reach. The current leg, dubbed “Into the Wilderness with 15 Years of Reach”, began on June 18th at Oklahoma City’s 89th Street venue (previously referred to as 89th Street Collective), with support from Lost in Separation and Taranis. Future dates will also be supported by Secrets. A small-but-mighty crowd filed into the venue on a warm Tuesday night, eager for what the evening had in store.

First to take the stage were Taranis, one of Oklahoma City’s own. They kicked things off on a raucous note with their brief yet powerful setlist which included singles “Comply” and “Buried,” alongside a few currently unreleased tracks. Vocalist Caroline Deen captivated the audience with her ability to shift between deep growls and gorgeous belts with an ease that I would liken to the immense talent of Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante, while her bandmates shredded just as heavily. Their most recent single, “Buried,” was released in May, and we will be keeping our eyes and ears on this up-and-coming group.

Next to perform were Lost in Separation, a metalcore act hailing from Dallas, Texas. They kept the crowd hyped up as they played through selections from their discography, including their 2019 single “Drowning,” which they noted had recently surpassed 1 million streams on Spotify. Even though the audience (myself included) was not seemingly familiar with their catalog – when they asked the crowd if anyone had seen them before, not a single peep could be heard – they certainly won over some new fans by the time the night had ended, as there were chants of “one more song” while they were departing the stage. Their most recent release, SABERTOOTH, was released in February.

Finally, around 8:30 or so, Eyes Set to Kill took the stage, after some minor technical difficulties, and proceeded to rock the faces off of the entire room. Though I had seen them once before at this venue back in 2019, it was extra-special to see them in this setting, celebrating the album that put them on the map and reunited with founding bassist Anissa Rodriguez, who initially departed the band in 2016. It was extremely obvious that Anissa and her sister, frontwoman and guitarist Alexia, were happy to be performing together again, and their energy on stage translated to a crowd whose energy only grew as the night went on. 

Since this is Reach’s anniversary moment, the vast majority of the setlist came from that record. However, they did sprinkle in a couple of their other hits such as “Broken Frames,” during which an inflatable alien named Allen got to have his own crowd surfing moment, as well as “Break” and “Infected.” The crowd was not ready for Allen to steal the show, however, and started a decent-sized mosh pit during the set closer “Darling,” which was Reach’s breakout single and remains one of their most well-known and most-streamed tracks to this day. 
If you are a casual ESTK fan who strictly listens to their more recent material, this may not be the tour for you. If you are interested in seeing the band in top form and going back to their roots, however, then this is not a show to miss if they are visiting a city near you! The current tour continues on June 21 at The Sanctuary in Michigan and extends throughout the United States, concluding in the band’s home state of Arizona on July 14. Tickets to all upcoming shows can be found here.