Five Finger Death Punch - War Is The Answer (CD)

All Music Guide

Five Finger Death Punch stormed rock radio in 2007 with "The Bleeding" (from debut album The Way of the Fist), a powerful, emotionally tense track that matched vintage Metallicastyle thrash with a throatshredding chorus more typical of lateaughts metalcore. The Los Angelesbased band's sophomore disc, War Is the Answer, mines much of the same territory as that breakout song, keeping the flame of the classic '80s Four Horsemen sound alive with snaptight chuggachugga guitar rhythms, minorkey, classical musicinspired clean/acoustic passages, and vocals dripping with a James Hetfieldapproved combination of sensitive angst and macho defiance. First single "Hard to See" backs a catchy, harmony vocalladen melody with a syncopated groove so rhythmically engaging it could almost be called funky, while the closing track, "War Is the Answer," takes a headbanging riff seemingly straight out of the Anthrax songbook and uses it to drive home one of several ultraaggressive sentiments ("To me you're ju...st a cancer/War is the answer"). Elsewhere, Five Finger Death Punch delve into somewhat more diverse sonic territory; "Bulletproof" pairs a throbbing industrial feel reminiscent of lateperiod Ministry with Yngwie Malmsteenesque melodic shred guitar solos and a vocal hook that recalls the '80s popprog of Asia and GTR, while "Far from Home" is a straightup power ballad, complete with dramatic strings and a soaring chorus that could sit on a compilation album right alongside any big lighterwaver, from Staind's "It's Been Awhile" to Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." - Pemberton Roach, All Music Guide Read more Less