Five Finger Death Punch Need Not Apologize For Its Honesty

Judgment Day. Many a metal band has made reference to it. Ivan Moody and the rest of the folks in Five Finger Death Punch spend quality time taking a really close look at it throughout the new single release "I Apologize". You have to, in a sense, be impressed with his whistling past the graveyard , a joke of sorts on my part since Ivan's uncorking his manly rage from the bowels of, you guessed it, an actual graveyard. Anyway, strking a commanding D chord, Ivan screams out how he's guilty of being such a fool for not keying in on the difference between wrong and right whilst the world passes him by, for listening but not exactly learning. One day Death's shadows will catch up to him and then it's time to face the somber music. Kudos go out to ace guitarist Jason Hook for throwing down a wicked guitar solo at the bridge that'll take you back to any one of a number of top '80s fret slayers. You can very acutely taste Ivan's dismay at the bind he's locked himself into. If Life's one giant classroom, then he's guilty of pushing the snooze button a little too often. Brash best describes the combined grittiness Five Finger Death Punch puts on full bugs in your teeth riding along on the Harley display. The gents give the message room to sink in nice and slow so the gravity of the grave isn't lost on listeners. Drummer Jeremy Spencer contributes where needed and when he does, the smoke on the pyre rises higher. He leaves the showboating to Jason so folks can better admire Jeremy's workmanlike gifts. This number barrels over whatever wall of defense you may have erected, hell bent on allowing you to look in the mirror and summon up a little self-reflection time of your own. Chris Kael delivers on the foreboding facets of "I Apologize", and given the video shoot locale, what's a little extra bite between friends, or enemies for that matter. Zoltan Bathory'a rhythm guitar poses as a show stopper in and of itself.Ivan could melt faces on the basis of the slightest stare. He's intensity personified. He gets how easy it can be to miss the boat as the universe laughs at your humble efforts. Forget about melody and slap the bib on at once. "I Apologize" no doubt will leave red meat juice for hours and hours to come. Sledgehammers and subtlety don't go together very well. Five Finger Death Punch got that memo early on. Ivan's rage settles down right as Zoltan's rhythm guitar drops in the last bits of burial sod. So you see, a controlled burn rules the roost in the final assessment. What fun we had reaching it though. "I Apologize" examines how you'd better accept yourself, warts and all because, in the end, you're the only you you've got. The gloves come off in a big hurry and the outcome leaves no survivors in its wake. Blessed is the band that apologizes for nothing it's achieved artistically. Contrary to what the title would hint at, Five Finger Death Punch has nothing to apologize for. It's whipped up an indelible wedge of 21st century gut turning metal musing.