Five Finger Death Punch
“The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell, Vol. 1”
Metal
Released on 30th July 2013
Via Prospect Park (U.S.A.) and Eleven Seven Records (rest of the world)
As annoying as it is to read so many words in just one title, I can assure you that the quality of its contents is directly proportional to its size: HUGE!
Nothing much has changed from “American Capitalist” and that’s the beauty of it: Five Finger Death Punch created ten brand new songs using the same characteristics as before but without sounding repetitive.
“Lift Me Up” counts with those familiar cranking guitar riffs that one recognizes as 5FDP’s and the guest vocal appearance by the one and only Rob Halford is just the icing on an already yummy cake.
Jeremy Spencer has always had a thing for double bass drumming, but in “Watch You Bleed” he shows just how catchy that can be.
Both “You” and “Burn MF” are quite antagonistic, the former having Ivan Moody in use of his harsher tone with the speed and belligerent force of a machine gun. Their counterweight comes in “Wrong Side Of Heaven” and “M.I.N.E. (End This Way)”, the power-ballads that 5FDP are also famous for.
“Diary Of A Deadman” is almost an instrumental track, full of liquid guitars and heavy beats, the few lyrics in it spoken – as in a diary – proving that if Moody wasn’t such a brilliant musician, he had a promising future in radio hosting, given the depth of his voice.
The other three original songs come in pairs, as they all have guest singers in them and the band decided you should also know how those songs sounded like without the guests. So Max Cavalera (Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy) half-sings, half-speaks in his native language Portuguese in “I.M.Sin”; Maria Brink from In This Moment is featured in both versions of “Anywhere But Here”, although in the first one she only does background vocals/sounds, and in the second she sings a proper duet with Moody – and don’t think this means we’re talking about a ballad; and finally “Dot Your Eyes” has the help of Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed, Kingdom Of Sorrow) “coring up” the tone a bit.
In the previous paragraph I didn’t use the word “original” by chance: “The Wrong Side Of Heaven…” also includes a cover song, and it’s important to say so as 5FDP did it in such a way that it actually sounds as their own: a metal version of a hip hop hit by L.L. Cool J, “Mama Said Knock You Out”. And to maintain a certain level of its true nature, the band invited Tech N9ne to rap away part of the lyrics.
I don’t know how volume 2 will be like, even though I strongly suspect it will be in the same mold as this, but the combining fierceness, melody and groove in this “The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell Volume 1” has already put the “Vegas Knuckleheads” in my annual best-of list of releases.
5 / 5
By Renata “Pieni” Lino
Valkyrian Music 