Nothing expresses a sense of urgency to your players like a lengthy narration about how dire the situation they're making their way towards is. If for no other reason than because they want you to shut up and get on with it.
If you want them to focus on the fight, it can be an excellent bit of reverse psychology...
...and given how difficult it can be to get them to focus on anything other than the fight, it can't really backfire.*
"Wait, you don't want to focus on combat, but want to interact with the denizens of the world?"
*Not responsible if your players either are or are role-playing as the type who can somehow employ the worst of both words, like interacting with your intricately designed world in more details, just to ensure they beat up more of it. XP
Author Notes:
EDIT: Since it only just occurred to me that not everyone is going to see or read the joke scrollover text, this is the music Rob subsequently ends up kicking terrorist ass to.