History

At War was formed in 1983 by guitarist Shawn Helsel, drummer Dave Stone and vocalist Paul Arnold. Originally trying out vocalists the band quickly decided that the brutal form of metal they had envisioned could only be brought forth by Arnold's growling vocals.

June of 1985 saw the release of At War's first demo entitled 'Eat Lead'. The two song demo consisted of the songs 'Rapechase' and what has turned out to be At War's anthem, 'Eat Lead' and immediately received excellent reviews from fanzines and magazines; it was high on rotation on many college radio stations in the United States and had an even better reception Overseas. It was because of this demo that At War had been dubbed by Spin Magazine as "America's answer to Mot