BEST OF 5FDP – 20 years in and fighting on

If there is a bunch of folks known for hard-hitting truths conveyed through hard-hitting tunes – it’s the ever-provoking, Las Vegas-born heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch (a.k.a. 5FDP).

And as if this month of July could not get any hotter (at least in the Northern hemisphere, that is), the band just released its latest album last Friday. Named “Best Of (Volume 1)”, it is a must-have compilation of the masterpieces that put 5FDP on the metal map for the ages.

Here, it is important to note two key elements for this album release.

First, the timing could not be any more impeccable, as Five Finger Death Punch celebrate their 20th anniversary since starting the band back in 2005.

The other reason will perhaps raise a few eyebrows. Indeed, the album blends together all the essential titles that the band has been bringing to the surface over the years – but in a shiny new sound, as the songs are not your typical remixes or remastered versions; they are full re-recordings which means they are “complete 2025 versions” of the songs, as the company describes in its announcement of the release.

But this decision has not been taken out on a whim. According to the band members themselves, re-recording these songs was made out of “a necessity” because they found out that “our original master recordings had been sold without our knowledge — and without the opportunity to reclaim them.”

And while I, for one, would have never expected to see a reference to Taylor Swift in a metal band’s blog post, 5FDP pointed to the pop artist as an example, suggesting that her decision to re-record her catalogue made sense to the band as well.

With this move, 5FDP show readiness to stand their ground against the common trend of catalogue acquisitions by investors “who often have no connection to the art or the artists”. In all fairness, one should not expect anything other than a fight against the system from a band named after a martial arts technique.

Furthermore, this is exactly the kind of rebellion one would imagine that 5FDP were on about in their “Washing It All Away” song, originally released in 2015, more specifically conveyed through these lyrics:

“I've given up on the industry
Up on democracy
Done with all your hypocrisy”

Zooming into the compilation’s tracklist, it naturally consists of the band’s mainly intensity-driven, fast-speed and heavily powered hits, such as “Wrong Side of Heaven”, “Under and Over It” and “Jekyll And Hyde”. However, it also includes the soul-touching ballads “I Refuse” (feat. Maria Brink of In This Moment),  “Far From Home” and “Bad Company”. Alongside these, there are three live versions to “Trouble”, “Welcome To The Circus” and “The Bleeding” that are not to be skipped through.

The album is out now everywhere and is worth every listen – if not for the band’s hyperenergetic metal tunes that leave virtually no one indifferent or unaffected, then for its courage to stay consistent in its key messages (both through the songs and through actions) that aim to burn injustice to the ground, reclaim power and fire up any listener’s ears with boundless courage! As one thing is for sure – we all have battles worth fighting and 5FDP’s music is just the soundtrack to strike the right note for the rebel hearts of the world.