Country: USA
Year: 2013
Tracklist:
Volume 1:
Volume 1:
| 1. Lift Me Up (Feat. Rob Halford) 2. Watch You Bleed 3. You 4. Wrong Side of Heaven 5. Burn MF 6. I.M.Sin 7. Anywhere But Here 8. Dot Your Eyes 9. M.I.N.E (End This Way) 10. Mama Said Knock You Out 11. Diary of a Deadman 12. I.M.Sin (Feat. Max Cavalera) 13. Anywhere But Here (Feat. Maria Brink) 14. Dot Your Eyes (Feat. Jamey Jasta) Volume 2: 1. Here to Die 2. Weight Beneath My Sin 3. Wrecking Ball 4. Battle Born 5. Cradle to the Grave 6. Matter of Time 7. The Agony of Regret 8. Cold 9. Let This Go 10. My Heart Lied 11. A Day in My Life 12. House of the Rising Sun |
So old, so rusted, so boring... That's how the Heavy Metal should be? After more than 50 years after Led Zeppelin, it has to be, right? Well, maybe, but this is not the case, at all. Five Finger Death Punch (almost the Five-Point-Palm Exploding-Heart from Kill Bill), is a groovish avant-garde heavy metal band that, today, stands out, not only next to other heavy metal bands, but next to any one.
This release is composed of two new full length albums or volumes, released both through the year 2013. In turn, these have completely unreleased new songs, so this isn't a lengthy work of those full of crapy content (like live or instrumental versions) to justify its existence or price (deluxe editions).
But, how good is this big work? Very good indeed, but also it's one of highs and lows. Some songs are amazing and mind blowing -like "Anywhere But Here" or "Cradle To The Grave"- but others are less appealing -like "Let This Go" or "Dot Your Eyes", but, as always, is just a matter of taste.
In the first volume, Rob Halford, as guest vocalist, participates in the first piece, "Lift Me Up". It's a nice way to initiate an album, with a heavy catchy song, and with one of the most popular singers as a guest artist. Also, Maria Brink, vocalist of the metalcore band, In This Moment, participates in "Anywhere But Here". Tech N9ne, Max Cavalera and Jamey Jasta also act as guest singers. Even though these interventions are nice additions to the album, only the one of Tech N9ne is interesting enough, mainly because of the rap-metal mix.It has 14 songs, 3 of which are just repeated ones but with guest artist interventions. So, really there are just 11 songs, and that's ok for any album, and ok for the price of $11.89 at amazon.com. The 3 other pieces are like a gift, and gifts are always welcome. Hence, as a buyer, you will get a lot of bang for the buck, also because no song is an intro or anything like it.
The second disk has its own vibe, differentiating itself from the first one. Unlike its predecessor, there is no guest artist intervention, it has a more refined audio, and less but better songs overall. Therefore, each album seems unique and not parts of a single release, and that's why we can say that the Vol. 2 is superior, even with two or three less songs -one of them is an interlude of about two minutes- and with no famous friends to brag about.
As it has to be for a Heavy Metal band, the lyrics are mostly " I'm the shit", "I'm so cool and strong and cool and badass, and cool... and I'm so cool" and all that macho thematic. It's amusing sometimes, but gets a little repetitive after a while. There is some variation, though, but the songs are always self-referring.
The audio quality is just outstanding. Since their first album, the band knew exactly how they were supposed to sound, so it's has always been a pleasure listening to the beautiful audio of every released work of them. This time, however, they hit the nail on the head, or even more, on the middle of it. The mixing and mastering processes were finely made, making enough room for every instrument in the audio spectrum, giving at the same time the right relevance to the voice and drums. The band sounds powerful and beautifully like never before. The audio seem to be a little bit tweaked on the Vol.2, but overall it's the same in the two disks.
The vocalist's voice is another strong positive element in this work. On previous albums, it was also very remarkable, but not as much as it is at this time. The composition helped a lot, giving the chance to it to really shine thanks to the wide array of styles used. In songs like "Cold", for example, from soft clean to strong near harsh vocals are used, with big spikes in volume. By the way, the use of vibrato is wide. Everything is potentiated by the great audio, delivering a deep, clear and firm voice.
The Vol.2 is, no doubt at all, the best FFDP release, being closely followed by the Vol.1. Lets hope that the forthcoming album, in 2015, is going to be not just a superior one, but also an innovative one; that's something this band is needing after five albums with the same style at its core.
You can listen some of this tracks in our VK group at http://vk.com/metalwithin or follow us through Spotify.
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