Like nails on a chalk-board, vocalist Marshall Lichtenwaldt's hysterical, almost child-like shrieking and infrequent death metal grunts ('Sling and Arrows,' 'More Than a Metaphor') can get a little grating after a while, but his more straightforward singing is far more effective for boasting a command and cadence reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine's Zack de la Rocha (see 'Red, Black, & Blue' and 'Set the Stage'). Save for a lone exception during 'Scene Celebrity,' the crossover line is drawn at proper guitar solos, but that invisible barrier still offers a good amount of creative leeway for dual six-stringers Danny Phillips and Javier Zarate to experiment with. More recent touchstones from both the punk ( Refused) and metal ( Converge) worlds also inform the gang-shout choruses and general guitar and drum detonations of songs like 'Slings and Arrows,' 'The Cure' and the title track - all of which regularly display a fondness for flashy guitar work that more basic punk rock would never touch. Metalcore merchants the Warriors come across like seasoned pros on their 2004 Eulogy debut War Is Hell - but then, the band's members seem to have been extremely attentive students of the early-'90s hardcore teachings of Sick of It All, Murphy's Law and Agnostic Front.

War Is Hell by Garth Ennis