ALBUM REVIEW: Five Finger Death Punch – And Justice For None

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Famed heavy metal group Five Finger Death Punch released their latest album “And Justice for None” on May 18th, 2018. While FFDP is one of the most prominent bands in the heavy metal scene, this album falls short of impressive. In comparison to the band’s previous albums, this one does not seem to try as hard to experiment with new and interesting styles, but rather recycles the same sounds and themes over and over. “And Justice for None” is just very unoriginal, not only in its sound and style, but also in the fact that the album features two covers, one of which is included on both the deluxe and standard edition. Most of the songs off of this album are simply uninteresting musically, and don’t bring anything new to the band’s metal sound.

There were a few songs on this album that stood out as interesting or different, but overall the tracks seemed pretty predictable and typical. The songs that caught my interest the most on the album were “Bloody” and “Sham Pain”, while the two I thought sagged the most were “Fake” and “It Doesn’t Matter.” What is uninteresting about most of the album is that each song seems to follow one pattern and does not stray from it. The beginning always starts with a different and interesting drum beat or guitar riff, but eventually the song falls into a repetitive sound and never deviates from it.

“Bloody” and “Sham Pain” both present interesting dynamics that stand out from the rest of the album. “Sham Pain” uses both electronic sounds and a mix of heavy and metallic guitar to guide the song, and the lyrics feel honest and real. The song gives us and inside look into Moody’s experience in the music industry and world of fame, which often leaves him distressed. Moody does admit that he is pleased with the outcome of his career in the chorus, “All in all it’s a good life/I got what I want, I can’t complain/I’m living the good life a toast to you now/It’s all sham pain.” The lyrics in this song feel personal to Moody, and they are clever and interesting, as seen with a play on words in the title. “Bloody” also uses electronic elements and effects that add a lot of depth to the song. There is also some variations in musical patterns and sounds, making it stray a bit from the pattern this album seems to fall into. It does get a bit repetitive when “bloody” is repeated multiple times, but it does seem to fit well in the song.

“Fake” and “It Doesn’t Matter” were not only pretty boring musically, but also lyrically. While “Fake” has a deep heavy metal sound, it is generally just very whiny and repetitive. With lyrics that are just a lot of swearing and calling people fake, they have no honesty or depth to them and feel very superficial. This song does not produce a matured sound or lyrical style from FFDP. “It Doesn’t Matter” features little musical variation, making the song drag. The sound seems to remain stagnant throughout the entire song, and the lyrics are not very real or engaging for the listener. These are just two examples of the recurring issues I heard throughout this album.

Overall, while FFDP is a widely popular heavy metal band, this album does not seem as well put together or interesting as others previously released. While a few songs stand out and feature interesting and new aspects to a metal sound, the rest are simply predictable and boring. If more songs used a variation of musical elements, as well as a maturation of lyrics, the songs would have had more potential to be interesting.

Written by Demi Marshall

Glenn van den Bosch

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