Five Finger Death Punch
The Way Of The Fist

THE REVIEW

In an increasingly ruthless market where finding fresh novelties is becoming more difficult, the "Five Finger Death Punch" have been one of the few positive notes in overseas Metal in recent years.

The band from Los Angeles is the result of a fusion of members from other not particularly successful groups such as Motograter, U.P.O., and Ghost Machine, but this is of relative importance concerning the writing of their debut album, "The Way Of The Fist".
Let me start by saying that there may be ambiguities and different interpretations regarding the style the band proposes, the Groove elements introduced by the singer Ivan Moody are not lacking, who often alternates a Groove singing style with a more 'clean' one, a fusion reminiscent of various 'Corey Taylor' (Slipknot) but also modern Metalcore. Certainly, what is to be appreciated about this album is the blend of grit and melody that songs like "Ashes" and the launch single "The Bleeding" manage to convey, tracks that perfectly blend with rougher episodes without ever exceeding, like the title track "The Way Of The Fist" and the 'heavy' "Salvation". It's also worth highlighting the excellent work of drummer J. Spencer, who with his contributions often manages to 'color' pieces that might otherwise risk becoming too stereotyped. However, the rest of the ensemble is not inferior, with great melodies offered in more radio-friendly tracks like "White Knuckles" and "Never Enough", with guitars tending towards alternative Metal without losing any adrenaline. It should be noted that the last of the mentioned tracks, namely "Never Enough", was only included in a second version of the album; my personal opinion is that the album must have been commercially successful, so the idea to remaster it with an addition of fresh (and melodic) content ("Never Enough" is indeed the softest track on the album) seems to be a pretty understandable decision.

Continuing with the description of the album, noteworthy is "Death Before Dishonour", a track that, touching on prog, gives an idea of how much the band has a sense of heterogeneity that is not easy to find in other typically Metalcore bands today. Closing with a bang with the good "Meet The Monster", Ivan Moody's vocal and melodic skills are impressive, and I must emphasize how it is not easy in a genre like the one expressed by 5FDP (abbreviated name), to be able to manage a musical mass of power, thickness, and aggressiveness, adding just enough catchiness to make an album like this one 'successful' and somehow keep everyone happy. I feel confident in stating that Five Finger Death Punch are now an established reality and "The Way Of The Fist" is proof of it. I recommend listening to Metalcore, Heavy Metal fans, but why not even those used to more 'soft' records tending towards hard rock.

Note: I do not recommend listening to tracks on Myspace, as most of the songs present do not belong to this album, some of the songs are part of the group's second album, "War Is The Answer", a significantly softer album.