Review Summary: More like the wrong side of clones and the righteous side of B-sides.
Listening to Five Finger Death Punch's newest album left me a taste of utter disappointment after my first listen. I realize they're a rather unpopular band on this site, but they have always been one of my favorites. After listening to this album, however, I started to question that.
The album starts off with the opening track
Here To Die. It does not start off strong. The first word you hear Ivan growl is 'bounce,' which is obviously placed as a gimmick to pump up the crowd at a show. The vocals just sound uninspired and the melodies seem arbitrarily put together. Guitars are stuck at a low pitch for the majority of the song with the exception from an average solo before the last chorus. The drums play the same repetitive rhythm through the course of the song. The second track kicks in, and I had to double check to make sure my CD hadn't skipped. I could have been sure that I was listening to the first track again. The drums and guitars were just as repetitive as the previous song and Ivan's vocals were no more inspired this time around. The third song suffers the same fate.
The majority of tracks on the album fit with this pattern. The only break are the ballads
Battle Born and
Cold, the latter being the better of the two. The former was released as the first single, which was a mistake in itself. The track is a welcome break from the monotonous, more upbeat songs on the record, but even it sounds uninspired and lazily put together. The track lacks the emotion Five Finger Death Punch has been able to convey on ballads of previous releases.
Cold is one of the better tracks on the album. It showcases Ivan's voice quite well, but I can't help but compare it to Far From Home off the band's second album. Unfortunately, it falls short in comparison. It stands quite well on its own, but if you're familiar with the band's previous work it just doesn't live up.
House of the Rising Sun was a welcome surprise as the album closed. Why? Because it was different. It didn't follow the same basic formula as the majority of other tracks on the album.
When Five Finger Death Punch first announced they'd be releasing a two-part album, I was worried. Few bands could pull this off well. It turns out my apprehension was justified. The band should have taken the few redeemable tracks on this album and combined them with part 1 to make one solid album. But instead, we get a part 2 which sounds like it's primarily composed of B-sides and bad copies of previous works.
