Really two EPs spliced together -- its first four songs are brand new, while its final five were originally issued in 2000 as the Private Conflicts and Suicides EP -- Love, Murder and a Three Letter Word served to announce the resurrection (second or third at this stage) of Texas metalcore pretenders Society's Finest.

An extremely competent ensemble still looking for a firm direction, the group seems to be wavering between the technically outrageous arrangements currently in vogue in the metal underground, and old-school hardcore's simpler charms.

To wit, songs like "Vanity and the Gun" and "Ennis, TX" clearly flirt (rather unconvincingly, one should note) with the fringes of math metal mayhem; and it's more straightforward, groove-built numbers like "Pop Culture in Houston" and "The Art...the Morgue" that find the band most at ease.

Neither one of these styles is the dominant as you move into that original 2000 EP's final five tracks; these take a slower, dirge-metal approach with their riffs, which while perhaps not as explosive or exciting, definitely find a better balance for it.

Lacerated vocals punctuate hateful offerings like "A Cold Winter's Morning," "Eggshell," and "Zero-Nine-Three-Zero," as they finally bring some truth to the band's "So beautiful but filled with so much hate" motto.

All of which suggests that, if they don't break up again, Society's Finest would do well to review the past in order to find their future.