Five Finger Death Punch – The Way of the Fist

It always feels comforting when you realise that your favourite music will never extinct simply because there are bands like this which are determined enough to keep it in life. At the crossroad where old school Bay Area thrash meets modern hardcore metal, Five Finger Death Punch stand proud and present their debut album, opening the way to a promising future.

In a magnificently crafted amalgamation of ‘old’ and ‘new’, this album incorporates all the classic elements – guitar solos and harmonies, attention to song writing details, proper thrash riffs and sharp, heavy vocals – with contemporary melodic choruses and tempo changes.

The album is remarkably consistent throughout in terms of musical style and also in terms of song length. Opening with the rather old-fashioned, yet effective ‘A Place to Die’, the band fills the listener in immediately on what’s about to follow. The best moment of the record comes very soon with ‘Ashes’ (no.2) as a mixture of Iced Earth and Pantera. The quite melodic ‘Death before Dishonor’ comes next with a Maiden-like intro and it is followed by the very modern sound and structure of ‘Can’t Heal You’. One of this record’s classics will definitely be ‘Salvation’, whilst the band exposes their sensitive side through the extremely catchy ‘The Bleeding’.

All in all, this album is a tremendous effort by a new, yet greatly capable band. It is highly recommended to the followers of American metal. Fans of the European scene, you should also give it a chance, the album is full of references to classic and melodic metal.