With spaghetti western guitars and cracking gunfire, the title track of Eyes Like The Sky acts as a prologue that sets up the narrated story of the album, which is named after its protagonist. Taking place in the southwest United States before and after the American Civil War, the lands are filled with bloodshed and fighting over territory and belief. Out of that turmoil rises a figure who makes a number of names for himself through violence. Eyes Like The Sky is his story.
The music starts with a slow build before moving into an epic riff, backed by two powerful hits by the band. The song itself opens with a distorted lead line that conveys the vast frontier of the story. It was first revealed on January 6th, 2013 as part of the trailer for the album and was released properly on February 22nd, 2013.
The earliest known performance of the song was on 2013-11-13 for Triple R Radio. This version was performed with Broderick Smith, who provided narration which features extra lyrics in the first passage. He introduces the story of Eyes Like The Sky by saying “In the life and adventures of M. O’Brien. Scout, pioneer, gunfighter and Yavapai warrior.” The song wouldn’t be seen again until 2016-02-17 at Fleece in Bristol—three years after the song’s release. Broderick Smith returned to the track on 2018-12-01 at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds in Naarm (Melbourne) for Gizzfest. The only other known performance was on 2023-06-21 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles as a tribute to Broderick Smith. This version of the song features his narration played alongside the band.