Five Finger Death Punch – Got Your Six (2015)

Five Finger Death Punch is an American heavy metal band, which was formed in 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The name derives from a martial arts maneuver in the movie Kill Bill. Current members of the band are Zoltan Bathory (rhythm guitar), Jeremy Spencer (drums), Ivan Moody (vocals), Jason Hook (lead guitar) and Chris Kael (bass). Got Your Six is their sixth and most recent album, which was released on September 4, 2015. As I expected this album had aggression and attitude.

The first song from the album is Got Your Six. At first I was wondering what Got Your Six means. But reading the lyrics I got an idea. It is about having your friends back for example in the battle. When I first heard this song, I was not a big fan. But when I listened to it again and again and when I listened to the lyrics, I started to like it. The first seconds of the song are very melodic. One would probably not expect it to be a heavy metal song because of the beginning. There is tons of energy in this song and it gets you going.

The second song and also the first single of the album is Jekyll and Hyde. I remember that I first heard this song in the radio and I knew right away that this is a song from Five Finger Death Punch. I loved this song instantly. Interesting is that this song is formed from a voice mail that Ivan Moody left to Jason Hook. Hook made this voice mail into a song and it unique. I have never heard that someone has made a song out of a voice mail.  I believe that everyone can relate to this song because we all have our demons inside. This is a very good choice for a first single. It also has a music video which shows that the band has a sense of humor and despite their “angry” music they are pretty cool people. 

Wash It All Away is their second single from this album. It has a video that is made in one of their concerts. Concert performance videos are always a good idea because they show how cool the concert is and makes you want to go too. At least that is what this video did to me. I like that Moody sings in the chorus instead of “yelling” as in the rest of the song. For me this song is about the world has changed and how sometimes you just want to give up on everything. The lyrics say: All of the chaos, the dirt and the lies. I hate it.

Next song is Ain’t My Last Dance. I quite do not get what this song is about. From the lyrics it seems like this is a song for haters: You swore I’d never last. I got news for you, this ain’t my last dance. But from the chorus it seems to be about something else entirely: I’ve given it all, I’ve given everything for you. I’ve given you all, what more do you want me to do. So this one leaves me a little confused.

The video and lyrics give My Nemesis a strong message. It shows that people sometimes have to deal with difficult choices in life even when these decisions hurt the people you love. It focuses on the pain and grief that can come with these decisions. It makes you think about life and how people have to have a lot of courage and will to do this. 

No Sudden Movement is the song on this album that sounds the most heavy metal to me. It is my least favorite song in this album. The tempo is very fast and it is very intense. This song is also most aggressive for me. Right between your eyes, nowhere to hide. Click clack reload, clock clack unload clearly is about a gun and shooting. It also has a very good guitar solo.

I like Question Everything very much even though I do not get the lyrics. They just do not make any sense to me. From the title I expect the song to be about questioning everything and not to trust people too easily but I can read this out from the lyrics once or twice and the rest just does not make sense for me. But I really like the beat and the music and that makes up for the confusion. 

I think Hell to Pay is about consequences. The hell I’ve had to pay, everything comes with a price. When you do something wrong then you have to accept the consequences and keep your hear up. Again the music is great but it does not stand out from the rest of the songs for me.  

Digging My Own Grave is a ballad. It is not the usual soft ballad but ballad that a heavy metal band can make without going off its music style. Its starts off mellow and in the chorus it kicks in. I could listen to it over and over again and I like that it sounds sad. If I had to choose a favorite song then this would probably be it.

Meet My Maker has a very catchy rhythm and I think that the singing is intense. This song makes me wonder whether he is singing about god or something else entirely because he has sung of god before in Wrong Side of Heaven (I am adding this song in the end).

Boots and Blood has a very clear message. F*ck everybody. I think it is a very good way to end the album: to say that they do not give a damn about what others think or say.

The musical side of this band is very good but the lyrics are not that great sometimes. As I understood then Moody writes most of the lyrics himself and this is something he really could work on. Of course sometimes the lyrics do not make any sense before the music video comes out. This makes you look things in a different perspective and then things do make sense. My personal favorites are Jekyll and Hyde, Question Everything and Digging My Own Grave. They just have something that has gotten my attention the most. Heavy metal is not my favorite style on music but in my opinion this album is excellent. The guitar and drum solos are very good in this album and I also love Ivan Moody’s vocal skills. 

In the end I would like to add another song from Five Finger Death Punch. It is from their fourth studio album which was released in 2013. This song and video have a very deep message. They launched a major campaign to raise awareness and money for the soldiers and veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A lot if soldiers do not get the help they need after wars and they become homeless or even worse commit suicide. 

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