Five Finger Death Punch-War Is The Answer

Post #97
Here's a newer band I recently discovered thanks to my local library: Five Finger Death Punch. I had heard of this band before, from one or two songs on the radio, but never bothered to check out one of their albums until now. I think I may have shied away from them before because they have 'Death' in their name and I thought 'death-metal'. But I had heard their cover of Pantera's 'A New Level' on a free CD from Metal Hammer magazine and liked it, so when I was browsing through my library's AV section and saw their album, War Is The Answer, I decided to give it a listen. I am sure glad that I did!

These guys are a great metal band! The influence from Pantera is evident in their sound. At their most intense moments they could be categorized as 'hard-core' metal, but they incorporate a number of melodic elements, both in vocals and guitar-tone, enough that some of their songs could fit comfortably in the 'alternative' genre. War Is The Answer is this band's second album, and it proves to be a great headbanger's listening experience.

As soon as the first track began to play the immediate comparison I made in my mind was to Stone Sour. The guitar tones, bass drums, deep-growled vocals. Trust me, if you've enjoyed Stone Sour from one of my older posts, then you'll want to check out Five Finger Death Punch. Also in similar fashion to Stone Sour, 5FDP quickly throw in some clean melodies as the album plays on.

Their debut single, 'Hard to See', which I think I had heard once or twice on my local rock radio station, is a perfect example of the current hard rock/metal mainstream trend. Primarily melodic vocals are supported by a heavy groove maintained by the rhythm section, and a great tone is brought to the song by way of the lead guitar interspersed throughout.

This band is no one-trick-pony, as the styles of songs present on this album cover a wide spectrum from post-grunge acoustic ballad, to heavy instrumental, to heavy groove-metal thrasher. Not to be overlooked, they also include another cover song, Bad Company's namesake song, which they manage to make their own without much tampering of the song's original arrangement.

My top picks from Five Finger Death Punch's War Is The Answer (2009):
-Dying Breed
-Hard to See
-No One Gets Left Behind (perhaps the best anti-war metal song since Black Sabbath's War Pigs!)
-Far From Home (a surprisingly soft song for this band: acoustic guitar and strings arrangements give this one a very full sound)
-Canto 34 (an instrumental track, several good lead guitar solos and a melodic break at the end as it fades out)
-Bad Company (cover of the classic rock hit by the band of the same name, probably the biggest 'must-hear' on this album!)

Visit their website:
http://www.fivefingerdeathpunch.com/

or hear some samples on myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/ffdp