Five Finger Death Punch
And Justice for None


1.5
very poor

Review

by Tyler White STAFF
August 19th, 2018 | 67 replies


Release Date: 2018 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Five Finger Death Punch have hit "Rock Bottom"

Picture this. About a year ago, I made a new friend and we had a mutual love for metal music. I started to introduce into quite a few bands similar to what he liked, and vice versa. His favorite band that he requested was none other than Five Finger Death Punch. I had heard songs like “Wrong Side of Heaven” and “Bad Company” that I enjoyed to an extent, so I had to check them out. After just one listen through Got Your Six, I came to the obvious conclusion that Five Finger Death Punch were just another radio rock/metal band, and a bad one at that. Then came along the pre-release of And Justice for None, and my friend was hyping it up like crazy. Surely, Five Finger Death Punch could only go up from the failure of Got Your Six, right?

Apparently, they had a different plan in mind.

And Justice for Now somehow found the stairs to the basement here. Average, albeit generic and formulaic, instrumentation is horrendously hindered by Ivan Moody’s pseudo-tough guy default voice singing lyrics with the same originality as any rebellious, edgy teenager. With lyrical phrases like “You’re a fake motherf*****” and “I ain’t your b****, I ain’t your boy, I ain’t no g*d d*** motherf****** toy” and a song with the title “Sham Pain,” the themes of the album read more like a high school diary of a pissed off teen than a Platinum selling artist.

Most of the album follows the general styling of previous Five Finger Death Punch albums, performing “manly” aggression with chugging, down-tuned guitars held in rhythm by straight forward drum beats, layered by Moody’s “fierce”, annoying, monotonous shouts. The emotional aggression really comes through when Ivan Moody begins yelling about how he never gets a break from meet and greets, but assures us that he has nothing to complain about (what a shocker), or when he’s screaming “F*** YOU” at whoever the heck he feels like, but saying it doesn’t matter in the end. Accompanying such lyricism are some actually catchy guitar riffs and solos. Unfortunately, such moments of slight success are often forgotten or go unnoticed due to the distraction of many other flaws.

Speaking of flaws, Five Finger Death Punch have lost all ability to write a decent chorus. Almost every chorus on the album is just lackluster, to say the least. What may start off as a promising intro to a song is often butchered by an underwhelming chorus of terrible transition or progression mixed with childish lyrics. In an attempt to redeem such issues, Five Finger Death Punch have included a plethora of guitar solos. Is Zolton Bathory a good guitarist who has both speed and melody? Yes, but And Justice for None overuses that talent. Although the solos still remain one of the focal points of interesting musical aspects in Five Finger Death Punch’s discography, the album seems to have so many forced guitar solos that all almost follow the same scales. Alongside this, the placement of said solos are blatantly predictable and only become an annoyance as the album progresses.

Interestingly, a band known for their tough guy aggression portrayal, Five Finger Death Punch are at their peak when they hang up the intensity and focus more on either covers or ballads. “Blue on Black” and “Gone Away” are clear stand outs with Moody actually singing in both a melodic way and with good lyrics (which makes sense, since they aren’t his own). “I Refuse” and “When the Seasons Change,” both being obvious mainstream ballads, still manage to be highlights of the album because it shows a genuine maturity of a band full of childish immaturity. Although this is Five Finger Death Punch at their peak on the album, the peak acts more as a hilltop compared to their modern metal contemporaries who actually take the time to write genuine, even just slightly original material.

Although this album is overall horrible, Five Finger Death Punch succeeded in one thing. I’m definitely interested in checking out their new material to see if a band, already seemingly at rock bottom, can go even lower. At this point, Five Finger Death Punch of just become a joke of radio metal, And Justice for None extending the punchline even further than before. Honestly, this band would be better off resorting to performing covers and ballads exclusively, or maybe even just do us all a favor and call it quits.



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user ratings (303)
1.6
very poor
other reviews of this album
Brendan Schroer STAFF (0.5)
Justice is lost! Justice is raped! Justice is done!...

NAM86 (3.5)
I'm in for a beating for this one......

xtrole (2.5)
What could have been a pretty solid album is held back by a fair amount of poor lyrical content....

InsaneSeed (1)
The album title rings true since this band is still allowed to make music....



Comments:Add a Comment 
tyman128
Staff Reviewer
August 19th 2018


4608 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

It honestly surprises me that these guys are so popular and that people thoroughly enjoy them. There are so many flaws that entirely weigh out any good in their music.

tyman128
Staff Reviewer
August 19th 2018


4608 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

My phone double posted dang it

Anyway, hoping my friend starts listening to better, more original music soon

SymbolicInTime
August 19th 2018


7380 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

This is honestly their worst album

This or Got Your Six

tyman128
Staff Reviewer
August 19th 2018


4608 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

Definitely this, they've been going downhill their entire career, and it's momentum has increased up to this point

SymbolicInTime
August 19th 2018


7380 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

I pretty much agree. Way of the Fist is easily best. I think it’s even a decent album. War is the Answer is okay too. American Capitalist is when they turned just completely unlistenable, but I think Wrong Side of Heaven part 1 is just SLIGHTLY better than it. Haven’t checked part 2 yet. I can only tolerate so much of this band at a time, but theyre intriguing to listen through just to see how they manage to suck next

tyman128
Staff Reviewer
August 19th 2018


4608 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

"but they're intriguing to listen through just to see how they manage to suck next"

Agreed. That's why I gave this a 1.5 so I can give the band the benefit of the doubt that they can create even worse material

William21
August 20th 2018


922 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Meh. I don't really think there's that much different about this from any other FFDP album. I've always liked the instrumentation from them quite a bit; I would probably like the band a lot more if Ivan wasn't one of the worst lyric writers in the rock business right now.



Seriously how do songs like Fake and Rock Bottom happen?

TheClansman95
August 20th 2018


2510 Comments


ugh the average rating to this. sounds like "stay away from this band"

tyman128
Staff Reviewer
August 20th 2018


4608 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

I would agree that the instrumentation is good and likeable. But it's just so generic at this point.

"Seriously how do songs like Fake and Rock Bottom happen?"

Only the greatest lyricist of this generation was able to create such songs

SymbolicInTime
August 20th 2018


7380 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

The instrumentation isn’t even good at this point. I kid you not, on this album, American Capitalist, and Got Your Six, I could play the drum section on majority of the songs first time listening to them, just because they’re all so formulaic and samey at this point. They rehash their own rythyms incessantly. It honestly offends me lol

Source
August 20th 2018


19917 Comments


Band sucks

William21
August 20th 2018


922 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

"Only the greatest lyricist of this generation was able to create such songs"

....

"You're a fake motherf*cker I hate you motherf*cker"

Indeed. Such poetry.





Zeuzo
August 20th 2018


2344 Comments


Did you unfriend that guy?

tyman128
Staff Reviewer
August 20th 2018


4608 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

"Did you unfriend that guy?"

No, he was the only friend I had for like five months at one point. Plus, I've begun moving him towards other bands recently.

"Band sucks"

Well put.

"I could play the drums section on majority of the songs first time"

Yeah this bothers me. As I drummer, I love intricate patterns that flow well with each band's song yet still contain originality. Nowadays, they have neither, and it's horrible. Always just the same 4/4 or 8/8 beats with this band.

CugnoBrasso
August 20th 2018


3060 Comments


I love how every album's average rating in this band's discography is 0.3 lower than the previous one.

SymbolicInTime
August 20th 2018


7380 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

So they just need to put out one or two more albums and it’ll finally be right

TheClansman95
August 20th 2018


2510 Comments


they should stop. Wait, they should've never begun

SymbolicInTime
August 20th 2018


7380 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

Nah Way of the Fist is one of my go to lifting albums. They could have stopped after that though

TheClansman95
August 20th 2018


2510 Comments


fair enough, a 3/5 average is acceptable

bentheREDfan
August 21st 2018


502 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

I really liked this.



That said, the ballads are definitely the best part.



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