The Band Five Finger Death Punch was founded in 2005 by Jeremy Spencer (Drums) and former U.P.O. band member Zoltan Bathory (Bass). Early in 2006 Matt Snell (Bass) joined the band. Later that year the former band member of Motograter, Ivan Moody (vocals) joined the band.
Towards the end of 2006 the band had recorded their debut album ‘The Way of the Fist’ was released in July 2007, it debuted on the USA Billboard 200 at #199 and it was RIAA certified as Gold in 2011. The album was recorded with Stevo ‘Shotgun’ Bruno and Mike Sarkisyan, with the mixing done by guitarist Logan Mader.
Caleb Andrew Bingham joined the band for a short period as second guitarist, but he left and was replaced by Darryll Roberts in 2006. The band signed up a record deal with Firm Music (a division of The Firm) shortly after recording their album. An EP ‘Pre-Emptive Strike’ was released in July 2007 exclusively through the American iTunes Store. A single ‘The Bleeding’ off their album was released in July 2007. ‘The Way of the Fist’ was re-released in May 2008 with three bonus tracks. Their second single ‘Never Enough’, one of the bonus tracks, was released in July 2008 and a third single ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ off the album was released in September 2008. The album was also released in November 2008 in Canada on the Spineform Record label. January 2009 saw Darrell Roberts being requested to leave the band and he was replaced by Jason Hook (Guitar).
Five Finger Death Punch’s second studio album ‘War Is the Answer’ was released in May 2009, debuted on the USA Billboard 200 at #7 and was RIAA certified Gold. ‘Hard to See’ was the first single to be released in July 2009 from the album, a second single ‘Walk Away’ was released off the album in November 2009. Then two singles were released off the album as UK-only singles: ‘Dying Breed’ released in November 2009 and ‘No One Gets Left Behind’ released in March 2010. ‘Bad Company’ was released as their fifth single in May 2010.
Five Finger Death Punch’s sixth single ‘Far From Home’ off the album ‘War is the Answer’ was released in September 2010. In April 2011 it was announced that Matt Snell had left the band and in June he was replaced by Chris Kael (Bass). October 2011 saw the band release their third studio album ‘American Capitalist’ and their first single off the album ‘Under and Over It’ was released in July 2011. The track ‘Back For More’ was a song included in the soundtrack of ‘Madden NFL 12’ a video game and the same track was released as a digital single in September 2011. The second single ‘Remember Everything’ was released in November 2011, with this being followed with a video in February 2012. In April 2012 the third single ‘Coming Down’ was released, in June this was followed by a music video. ‘Coming Down’ won the band an Independent Music Award in 2013 for the Best Metal/Hardcore Song. Five Finger Death Punch’s fifth studio album ‘The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1’ was released in July 2013 peaked at #2 on the USA Billboard 200 Charts. Off their album ‘The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2’ the band released a single ‘Battle Born’ in November 2013. The second volume of the album also reached #2 on the USA Billboard 200 Charts. In December 2013 the band revealed that they were busy recording a new album anticipated to be released in 2015. Five Finger Death Punch released a video for the song ‘Wrong Side of Heaven’ in August 2014.
Five Finger Death Punch is located in Los Angeles, California. To date Five Finger Death Punch has sold more than 2.4million albums in the USA. The band received the Radio Contraband’s Rock Radio Awards for ‘Indie Artist of the Year’ for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013; they also received the Radio Contraband Rock Radio Award for Album – ‘American Capitalist’ and the Song of the Year for ‘Coming Down’ in 2012.
Their current line-up consists of Ivan Moody (vocals), Jeremy Spencer (drums), Zoltan Bathory (rhythm guitar), Jason Hook (lead guitar) and Chris Kael (bass).
Their music genres are alternative metal, groove metal and heavy metal. Tatoos and weird heardoos aside, the band is mostly noted for fierce, groovy guitar riffs.
Their catalogue consists of five studio albums and one EP. Studio discography:
The Way of the Fist (2007)
War Is the Answer (2009)
American Capitalist (2011)
The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1 (2013)
The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2 (2013)
Got Your Six (2015)