I’ve always known about Five Finger Death Punch (often abbreviated to FFDP or 5FDP) but I have had never really listened to any of their albums. Safe to say that in listening to this album was always going to be a massive gamble but a few of my friends recommended it to me with high praise, and now I can see why. As part of a double album, where 2013 seems to be the year for them, The Wrong Side of Heaven and The Righteous Side of Hell Vol 1 should go down as a definite contender for one of the top albums of the year.
Produced by Kevin Churko, it saw release on July 30th 2013 via Prospect Park. So far it is their highest charting album to date on the Billboard 200 in the United States, coming in at number two.
The album starts off with “Lift Me Up” featuring Rob Halford (of Judas Priest) which is a fairly heavy opener with some melody and higher notes during the chorus, before reverting back to the norm. This is an awesome opening track, full of in-your-face vocals and lyrics from Ivan, whilst Zoltan’s and Jeremy’s guitar work provide that chunkiness, meanwhile the rhythm section of Jeremy and Chris also provide excellent playing. “Watch You Bleed” is the second track, starting off with acoustic guitar before the song kicks into life; again all heavy things are present here.
“You” is one of the shortest songs on the album, the third track, and it boasts strong guitar licks and in-your-face vocals/lyrics from Ivan, whilst there is low-end from the bass and enough kick from the drums. Speaking of the drums there is one slight niggle about this album: when I first started listening to this album, the drums sound way too compressed. It definitely fits the overall aggressive sound of this album, but they did take (for my ears) time to get used to, however now they simply sound awesome. “Wrong Side of Heaven” is the fourth song of this album and this is the first real ‘ballad’ of album where Five Finger Death Punch begins to experiment. Whilst it is not as heavy as the rest of the album is, you need something different to help create break and plus I like an album with some variation.
Although “I.M.Sin” and “Dot Your Eyes” (there is an extra track with Jamey Jasta, of Hatebreed, on guest vocals) are my obvious favourite tracks from this album, there are tracks like “Burn MF” or “Anywhere but Here” (featuring Maria Brink of In This Moment) or even the closing track “Diary of a Deadman” which features spoken-word lyrics closing out the album well, giving you some though for food before replaying the album again. As said before there are extra tracks just with guest vocalists, you also have Max Cavalera (Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy) on “I.M.Sin”. The tracks themselves are quite versatile and do fit the other guest vocalist’s styles quite well, especially Max’s low and gravely vocals.
The second disc, if you bought the deluxe edition, features an entire live set entitled “Purgatory (Tales from the Pit)” which is always a bonus if you are a fan – it’s what every is about. The live disc is very good sound-wise and performance and it certainly wants to go and check out past albums. The Wrong Side of Heaven and The Righteous Side of Hell is a very good album. It has a lot of heavy songs on there, as well some softer songs too, giving the album much-needed variety and depth. Whilst I think it is too quick to judge this album because part 2 is coming in October, Vol 1 certainly sets things up well. I took a real chance with this album as I hadn’t listened to any of their previous material, but now I have I’ll certainly be starting with 2007′s Way of the Fist, and working my way upwards.
RATING: 5 / 5
