Review Summary: On there debut album,"The Way Of The Fist",Five Finger Death Punch bring us slightly above average melodic thrash metal, and while not being as "true" as they state, are a refreshing listen amongst the "core" bands that are taking over.....
Ok, let me start off first by saying this is my first review so please take that into consideration, and constructive criticism would be helpful. Anyway, this review is about
Five Finger Death Punch and there debut album
"The Way Of The Fist". They are a new Metal/Thrash band coming out of sunny California.
Five Finger Death Punch is:
Ivan Moody-Vocals
Zoltan Bathory-Guitars
Jeremy Spencer-Drums
Matt Snell-Bass
Darrell Roberts-Guitars
Now before I get into the good and bad of this album, let me start off by saying I HATE posing. Bands these days are all about it, claiming there this and that. FFDP claims they play
"True Metal".
They even went as far as to make sure that every member in the band was a "diehard metalhead". REALLY!!!! Wow, that’s great, good for you guys.......thing is just cause you have "diehard" metalheads in your metal band doesn’t mean SH*T!!!! That’s like some Emo band saying "Well we made sure that every member in the band had to at least have one emotional breakdown over an ex-girlfriend, and have had to right a song on there dashboard of there car pulled over on the highway." Ok, that’s great.....doesn’t mean your "True Emo",or that you’re the greatest Emo band, not that its what Emo is all about, but you get my point. Anyway, on with the review....Lets start off with the good qualities of the album....
The instrumentation on this album is fairly decent. Its nothing amazing
or mind-blowing, and its certainly not anything you haven’t heard before, but what they do they do good. The guitar playing from Bathory and Roberts is respectable with lots of hooks throughout most of the songs and some very tasteful leads and solos, but are few and far between. Lead single
"The Bleeding", and
thrasher
"A Place To Die",both have very good intros and solos and are definitely standouts on the album. The drumming is also another
high point on the album, but like everything else, its nothing amazing, but very solid. Some good fills and speedy double bass add to the songs really well. The album opener
"Ashes" showcases that. Now onto the bad.....
The vocals. While I shouldn’t say bad, the vocals on this album are definitely lackluster. They follow almost the same exact pattern on most of the songs,(scream/shouted verse, sung choruses)
and in that sense make the album a bit repetitive. Ivan Moodys scream/shout only stays at one pitch most of the time, while occasionally going for a high pitched scream here and there. His singing on the other hand is actually pretty decent, especially on the tracks
“Can’t Heal You”, and
“The Devils Own” , but like I said, nothing to write home about. The bass on this album, as always on most metal records is almost non-existent, and when it DOES actually pop up its just following the guitars and nothing ever stands out. Where the album takes a major decline though is in the lyric department.
There’s a lot of "tough guy" going on in the lyrics, but they try so hard to be tough that it comes off as cheesy and sometimes laughable:
"I'm a walking one-man genocide, with a black belt in corrupt."
"Step to me, step to me mother***er, zip your lip, you've run out of time."
“I’m taking back control with my knuckles.”
Ok, come on guys grow up, give it a rest, we get it, your "tough".
When the lyrics aren't tough guy, there PAINFULLY generic and cliche:
"Everything I touch turns to ashes."
“You might win one battle, but know this, I’ll win the f*cking war!”
"Where did I go wrong? Who was I supposed to be?"
Are you f*cking kidding me with that???? This guy is at LEAST in his early-mid 30's......and he's still wondering what he's supposed to be?? GIVE ME A BREAK HERE!!!
Last thing to discuss when it comes to the negatives on the album is the production, mostly when it comes to the guitars and vocals. The guitars, as I stated before, are well played, but the production on them is weird. First off the main guitar sound, while still heavy, sounds very thin at some points and takes away from the heaviness of some songs. The production on the leads and intros however is just plain awkward sounding, and it makes the band sound almost power metal, which they definitely are not. The vocals on the record could’ve definitely benefitted from a little more polish and mixing. Occasionally you can hear some OBVIOUS cracks in Ivans screaming voice, and in some songs his vocals are, to me anyway, way to high in the mix.
In conclusion,
FFDP aren't the "next big thing" in metal, even though there so "true",but that doesn't mean they don't have talent. This band has a good amount of talent, but they need to expand a little more, and when hearing the lyrics, they come off as immature, and its hard to take them seriously. That doesn't mean this band is a total waste, people should definitely give them a listen, especially with all the “core” bands taking over, but what you will be hearing is barely above average thrash metal, with a lead singer who writes lyrics as if he's 14... No wonder there on the Family Values Tour with Korn.......And when they actually start playing
“True Metal”,and get good production values, maybe then they’ll be taken seriously.....only time will tell
Standout Tracks:
Ashes
The Devils Own
Can't Heal You
The Bleeding
A Place To Die
