Balancing on a fine line between metalcore and hardcore, The Chariot has taken a step away from the general scene and songwriting, in fact, I struggle to even label this as metalcore basically because of the unorthodox songwriting, the lack of breakdowns and guitar-solos, the obvious hardcore-influences that shines through from time to time, and even though the argument may be thin, Josh Scogin isn’t anywhere near the same type as your signature metalcore vocalist. No pure growls, and no pussy clean vocals here. Speaking of clean vocals, there is nothing even remotely close to being un-intense here. This is short, frenetic, electric, angry, punky and incredibly intense. There is in other words very little to grab onto and clutch, as there are little or no hooks and pure melodic lines except for a few places. All of this equals an album that will be a challenge to get into at first. To be honest, after being on a pretty long hardcore binge and being a fan of The Chariot since the incredible The Fiancè, this wasn’t all that hard to get for me in the beginning. I actually liked it a lot through the first ten spins or so and would have rated it considerably higher if I had reviewed it back then. The thing with this is, due to very little variation, that it’s very easy to get tired of. Even though it’s very good, I can see anyone who never heard of thiem before being bored after the three first songs because the songs tend to flow together a little. This is however the only thing that docks Wars and Rumors of Wars a good bunch of points, as this is pretty good

Whether the songs are ticking for just a minute or even six, the guys always manage to impress me in one way or another with their sense of fascinating rhythms and riffs and how they translate it to face-shattering, violent intensity that will leave you beaten to unconsciousness when they’re done with you. The song-writing involves many odd twists and turns which makes this a lot more interesting an appealing than most other metalcore bands. They dare to experiment with the genre and add in stuff Bullet for my Valentine would never even think of. They’ll positively catch your attention with tones that sound incredibly off, gut-wrenching and tortured screams, beats that jumps in every direction available and riffs with an otherworldly intensity, which will thereby make any hardcore fan shiver with pleasure at least, because even though this may be labeled metalcore, I don’t really think this appeals to the crowd, and definitely not if you expect Bleeding Through, Lamb of God or something like that.

Nearly each tune crashes out of the gates here, and as I mentioned, there is very little melody to appreciate. The exception would be the short yet amazing Impress that contains something along the lines of a breakdown without the clean-vocals. This band bases their songs merely on excitement, and the best tune, Daggers is a great example on how they channel their energetic intensity and frenetic power through their guitars, mic and drums. If you’re a fan of Norma Jean, this may be for you as The Chariot and this album in particular can be described as a much heavier version of present day above. In comparison to earlier albums, the guitarists has abandoned the crunchy punk guitar-sound and cranked up the gain knot to significantly higher levels which metalizes them a great deal.

I dare say that this is pretty much nothing for the untrained ear, and even if you like them, this may be a hit or miss. There are a lot of great stuff about this album, but the lack of variation and the fact that you won’t notice that there has been three songs already makes this somewhat flawed, which is why it’s short length is actually a rather positive thing. If you’re already a fan this will be a decent addition to your collection, if not, I’d suggest you start with The Fiancè