Five Finger Death Punch – The Wrong Side of Heaven & The Righteous Side of Hell, vol.1 (2013)
5FDP are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the best metal band in the world – but they are certainly one of the biggest. Future festival headliners, if you will. With this – the first of two albums under ‘The Wrong Side…’ mantle – it is clear that 5FDP are striving for global domination and put simply, when you can write this many tunes which are catchy, crunchy and full of melodies that command you to sing, that domination is surely an inevitability. The ‘Death Punch’ formula is essentially to fuse the frat-boy bounce which made nu metal so commercially viable in the late 90s to the testosterone-charged aggression of Pantera which has become the core of all latter-day metal. The results are abrasive enough to satiate hardcore metalheads, but direct enough to connect with the mainstream – who can’t, for example, connect with the simplest of impulses expressed in songs like ‘Burn Motherfucker’?
Critics have previously focused on 5FDP’s rather crass US jingoism and ‘right-wing’ politics – themes which are largely ignored here in favour of generic ‘pro-power’ lyrics. And it’s powerful stuff. Opener ‘Lift Me Up’ is a headbutt to the bridge of the nose – graced with Rob Halford’s mighty larynx, this is metal that makes the world a little bit better. ‘Watch You Bleed’ – a juicy tale of vengeance – is awash with bottom-heavy rhythmic assault and a hook big enough to level cities, whilst ‘I.M. Sin’ hits like a juggernaut and their cover of LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ is so infectiously bone-headed it’s bound to become a classic. You might say that this is a band walking furrows well-ploughed by Disturbed: bouncy, crunchy metal which is controversial, but not challenging; huge, but cloyingly simple. In Ivan Moody, they have a vocalist who can take a tune up a notch or ten and who oozes charisma.
It’s not all great, however. ‘Anywhere But Here’ is a radio-friendly-unit-shifter of truly dire proportions, whilst the title-track’s token balladry proves only that this is a band which cannot do depth – when they do, the results are cringeworthily purple. But you know it will sell, and you also know you’ll be singing it despite your condescending impulses. And, you know what? Sometimes it’s good to give in to your inner knucklehead. This is not an ‘Album of The Year’ contender – but that’s no a reason to dismiss it. Inventive? Nope. Infectious? Like chlamydia in a whorehouse.
5FDP are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the best metal band in the world – but they are certainly one of the biggest. Future festival headliners, if you will. With this – the first of two albums under ‘The Wrong Side…’ mantle – it is clear that 5FDP are striving for global domination and put simply, when you can write this many tunes which are catchy, crunchy and full of melodies that command you to sing, that domination is surely an inevitability. The ‘Death Punch’ formula is essentially to fuse the frat-boy bounce which made nu metal so commercially viable in the late 90s to the testosterone-charged aggression of Pantera which has become the core of all latter-day metal. The results are abrasive enough to satiate hardcore metalheads, but direct enough to connect with the mainstream – who can’t, for example, connect with the simplest of impulses expressed in songs like ‘Burn Motherfucker’?
Critics have previously focused on 5FDP’s rather crass US jingoism and ‘right-wing’ politics – themes which are largely ignored here in favour of generic ‘pro-power’ lyrics. And it’s powerful stuff. Opener ‘Lift Me Up’ is a headbutt to the bridge of the nose – graced with Rob Halford’s mighty larynx, this is metal that makes the world a little bit better. ‘Watch You Bleed’ – a juicy tale of vengeance – is awash with bottom-heavy rhythmic assault and a hook big enough to level cities, whilst ‘I.M. Sin’ hits like a juggernaut and their cover of LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ is so infectiously bone-headed it’s bound to become a classic. You might say that this is a band walking furrows well-ploughed by Disturbed: bouncy, crunchy metal which is controversial, but not challenging; huge, but cloyingly simple. In Ivan Moody, they have a vocalist who can take a tune up a notch or ten and who oozes charisma.
It’s not all great, however. ‘Anywhere But Here’ is a radio-friendly-unit-shifter of truly dire proportions, whilst the title-track’s token balladry proves only that this is a band which cannot do depth – when they do, the results are cringeworthily purple. But you know it will sell, and you also know you’ll be singing it despite your condescending impulses. And, you know what? Sometimes it’s good to give in to your inner knucklehead. This is not an ‘Album of The Year’ contender – but that’s no a reason to dismiss it. Inventive? Nope. Infectious? Like chlamydia in a whorehouse.
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