Five Finger Death Punch is certainly in contention for one of the best Heavy Metal acts going today and they only released this debut album, The Way of The Fist, in 2007. The band first formed in 2005 when the Hungarian-born former-U.P.O. guitarist Zoltan Bathory (tell me that's not an epic name!) enlisted the services of drummer Jesse Spencer (W.A.S.P.), bassist Matt Snell (Deadsett, Anubis Rising), guitarist Caleb Bingham (who would ultimately leave the band before the finish of the first album, being replaced by former W.A.S.P. guitarist Darrell Roberts), with the last edition being vocalist Ivan Moody (Motograter), who Bathory courted via Myspace (I know that idea seems ridiculous now...I mean who even uses myspace anymore?).Part of what I love so much about this album is that you have a Los Angeles-based metal band that clearly brings that American Heavy Metal style as the base, but then I'm sure Bathory's Hungarian background has to factor in somehow even if its not such a direct influence. On top of that the band interest in Asian culture is evident with the band's name, the title of this album, and several song titles (like "Death Before Dishonor") being obvious references to classic Kung-Fu films. Perhaps the fascination stops at the surface level of titles but I don't think the influence is quite that ephemeral but rather something that becomes integrated into the band's style.
Five Finger Death Punches' sound represents a much more "pop"-oriented direction that metal has been going in with typically more metalcore bands like Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall so its interesting in the last three or four years to see that permeate into different style of metal (especially something so classic like heavy metal). When I say "pop" I simply mean that there is something more accessible about the sound that's put forward for someone that may just be easing into metal. I don't think metal will ever really go in a full-on pop direction because at the end of the day you're still listening to an album with fucking heavy guitars and a considerable amount of screaming (no matter how much melodic singing that's coupled with). But Five Finger Death Punch push those boundaries and that puts them in the position to reach a fairly wide audience with songs that I found myself singing along to the first time I put on the disc.
There's a ton of passion on The Way of The Fist and while some of the lyrics are much more straight forward they convey feelings that are very universal about betrayal, self-loathing, feelings of inadequacy, etc. Of course most of the songs seem to be about particular relationships that went wrong but rather than just being typical "I love her" or "fuck her" its a lot more self-reflection that we all go through and there's something very cathartic about that and Moody's vocals are really perfect for conveying all of those genuine feelings. I think the best song that displays whats great about Five Finger Death Punch is "Death Before Dishonor". There's something very self-empowering about this song with a strong positive push behind it.
The album is also so well produced. Metal albums can be difficult to produce because you don't want an inevitable wall of sound coming at the listener that can often happen in these cases but instead here you get something that is coming from all directions. The credit here goes to the recording skills of Stevo "Shotgun" Bruno (Mötley Crüe, Prong) and Mike Sarkisyan (Spineshank) with mixing duties handled by former Machine Head and Soulfly guitarist Logan Mader. I also love the cover artwork by Sxv'Leithan Essex.
Overall this is a fantastic debut for this band that has several great singles, really killer bonus tracks on the re-release of the CD including a fantastic acoustic version of "The Bleeding" that shows off the musical talents and diversity of this band. Five Finger Death Punch has shown a great amount of potential with this debut album and the 2009 follow-up War Is The Answer (another album that is sure to be discussed here soon enough) which is why its so exciting to hear what they will have in store when they go back into the studio later this year to record their Junior album.
Favorite Tracks: Ashes, The Way of The Fist, The Bleeding, The Devil's Own, Death Before Dishonor, Never Enough, and The Bleeding (Acoustic)
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