Las Vegas Metal Monsters Five Finger Death Punch are not a band to do things by halves. Their lives are lived large every step of the way. For the past eighteen years, the outfit have pushed and pushed into the psyche of their ever-growing global audience, their intensity and brutal honesty making them impossible to ignore.
Five Finger Death Punch
The Wrong Side Of Heaven and The Righteous Side Of Hell – Volume 1 and 2
Release Date: 1 December 2023
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Whether the twin lead of founding member Zoltan Bathory and singer Ivan Moody set out to change the world so radically is irrelevant. The truth is that as they have made their way through their career, lives have been touched and certainly saved in some cases.
Their message of empowerment is fortunately backed with a soundtrack that packs its own titanic wallop, the nine albums produced so far being full of enough power to flatten cities.
Celebrating their tenth anniversary, the dual releases The Wrong Side Of Heaven and The Righteous Side of Hell Volume 1 and 2 are brought together in one huge vinyl box set with the added bonus of a disc of live tracks thrown in, too.
Already dripping with some of their most earth-shattering material, the stellar guests making an appearance on the first volume heightened the impact, and together, it ensured that the album was a huge hit, and it smashed the Billboard Top Ten with ease.
Written on a high after an intense period of touring, the ultra-tight Five Finger Death Punch found songs pouring from themselves, and for this reason, the wealth of new material was spread over two releases.
Rammed with guests, Volume 1 is an explosion of brutal and darkly tinged music that captured all the intensity of the band live. Featuring Rob Halford, opener Lift Me Up is a charging beast out for blood. Moody’s vocals are strong enough to melt concrete and steel whilst the whole is imbued by a huge sense of melody. This ability to bring something that is so brutal yet accessible has always been a key factor in their success. It is something that has seen FFDP grow into an arena-filling behemoth.
The highlights are many, and there is no sense of the outfit taking their foot off the gas or coasting, each track killer with no sense of any filler as the band steamroller the listener.
Eviscerating and dark, Watch You Bleed gives way to the equally bruising You before the multi-layered Wrong Side Of Heaven brings an even bigger step up. Fan favourite Burn MF makes a lasting impression here, but so too does rock ballad M.I.N.E. (End This Way), balls and dynamics coming together in one breathless hit. The stunning Diary Of A Deadman brings a refined dramatic scope to proceedings.
With appearances by Max Cavalera, Maria Brink, Tech N9ne, Jamey Jasta, and Rob Zombie all adding their own sparkle to Volume 1, this volume alone would have been enough to make their claim of best Metal album of the year. But yet more was to come.
Emotions were just as raw on Volume 2. But this set finds the band covering a wider musical palate from the almost relentless onslaught of its predecessor. While not going in totally different directions, there was certainly a stretching of boundaries as the quintet pushed themselves hard artistically and spread their wings a little wider.
Certainly, the big riffs are present, but the band employ more textures. The breathless Here To Die and relentless Wrecking Ball stand shoulder to shoulder with the gorgeous drifting and weaving of Battle Born and the beautiful but brief instrumental The Agony of Regret.
Saving some of the very best until last, the quality never dips and ballad Cold, the thrilling flurry of My Heart Lied outstanding, and as their stellar cover of The Animals’ classic House Of The Rising Sun brings things to a close, their leap up a few leagues was assured.
The rest, as they say, is history, and Bathory and Moody have weathered many storms since, but their passion and the strength of the material and playing speaks the loudest of all.
Modern-day classics as good as anything in the last thirty years, The Wrong Side Of Heaven and The Righteous Side Of Hell Volumes 1 and 2 being brought together in this one package makes it a vital purchase.
A twin gem of rock and Metal perfection, you need this in your life.
For more Five Finger Death Punch details, visit 5fdp.ffm.to/wsoh.
Five Finger Death Punch – Vinyl box set includes the following
â—Ź Wrong Side of Heaven, Vol 1 feat. 3 bonus tracks (Silver Metallic Color Variant 140g vinyl)
â—Ź Purgatory: Tales From The Pit feat. 2 bonus tracks (Live Album, 140g vinyl)
â—Ź Wrong Side of Heaven, Vol 2 (Gold Metallic Color Variant 140g vinyl)
â—Ź 43 songs across 3 2LP sets housed in gatefold sleeves
â—Ź New album artwork and images of the band
â—Ź Includes rare track: Burn MF featuring Rob Zombie
The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell: Volume 1
Disc One/Side A
Lift Me Up (Feat. Rob Halford)
Watch You Bleed
You
Wrong Side Of Heaven
Disc One/Side B
Burn MF
I.M. Sin
Anywhere But Here
Dot Your Eyes
Disc Two/Side A
M.I.N.E (End This Way)
Mama Said Knock You Out (Feat. Tech N9ne)
Diary Of A Dead Man
Disc Two/Side B
I.M. Sin (Feat. Max Cavalera) BONUS TRACK
Anywhere But Here (Feat. Maria Brink) BONUS TRACK
Dot Your Eyes (Feat. Jamey Jasta) BONUS TRACK
Burn MF (Feat. Rob Zombie) BONUS TRACK
Purgatory (Tales From The Pit)
Disc One/Side A
Intro
Under And Over It
Burn It Down
American Capitalist
Hard To See
Disc One/Side B
Coming Down
Bad Company
White Knuckles
Disc Two/Side A
Drum Solo
Far From Home
Never Enough
War Is The Answer
Remember Everything
Disc Two/Side B
No One Gets Left Behind
The Bleeding
Burn MF (Mr. Kane And Nikka Bling Remix, Feat Rob Zombie) BONUS TRACK
Weight Beneath My Sin (Feat. Ryan Clark) BONUS TRACK
The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell: Volume 2
Disc One/Side A
Here To Die
Weight Beneath My Skin
Wrecking Ball
Disc One/Side B
Battle Born
Cradle To The Grave
Matter Of Time
Disc Two/Side A
The Agony Of Regret
Cold
Let This Go
Disc Two/Side B
My Heart Lied
A Day In My Life
House Of The Rising Sun
