F8 - Album Review

It's been a hot minute since yours truly has left an album review on here. I know there were thousands upon millions of you craving my opinion of certain albums, so I've come out of my cave to feed your appetite. No promise that it won't be another 14 months until I post my next review. *Insert shrugging guy emoji*

Five Finger Death Punch has been around for 15 years and has stuck with the same formula they've had since the beginning. Some critics scream monotony, but you can't blame them for not changing. They've been successful in filling out stadium tours, and they have a strong fanbase that knows what to expect each album and each live show. Yeah, this same formula is heavily predictable, but arguably more importantly, it's successful.

I'll be honest: the new FFDP album, F8, sounds eerily similar to every other FFDP album, for the most part. Again, that's not a jab. Consistency – especially when maintaining a heaviness to your music – is something fans appreciate. It's also something that many bands fail miserably at and decide instead to go the pop/radio/cringey-electronic route (I am looking directly at you, Theory of a Deadman and Papa Roach). FFDP songs are aggressively consistent, if nothing else. You can bet your life that 80% of their songs will include F-bombs that are unnecessarily and awkwardly placed in sentences, and that each chorus will end with lead singer Ivan Moody violently grunting the song's title. Listen to this album and try to prove me wrong.

To someone who is about to blindly listen to their first FFDP album, whichever album that may be, I would present this metaphor... Imagine there's a single-file line with 15 people facing you. Out of those 15, 3 of them are going to pat you on the back and encourage you to conquer your fears; the other 12 are going to break your arm and knee you in the face. And out of those 12, 4 will smile and apologize, while the other 8 will spit on you and tell you to get over it. A very visual metaphor, but trust me, it works for every FFDP album. Without fail.

Now let's talk about the songs. For starters, I am a sucker for albums that start off with an instrumental song that then bleeds into the next track (i.e. Sevendust's Black Out the Sun and Nothing More's eponymous debut). "F8" --> "Inside Out" is a pretty good start to the album, and the radio edit is every bit a rock radio hit.

Referring back to my painfully accurate metaphor, some of the top songs that fit the unapologetic face-bashing would be "This is War", "Bottom of the Top", "Scar Tissue", and "Mother May I". Despite the mindless lyrics, the unapologetic face-bashing songs are a toss-up for me: I unashamedly like listening to half of them; I toss the other half in the garbage. That, again, is evident to me in this album, as "Scar Tissue" and "Death Punch Therapy" are throw aways, whereas "Mother May I" is one of my favorites from the album. However, if you're more interested in the ballads and hugging side of their discography, "Brighter Side of Grey" and "Darkness Settles In" are your go-to songs.

All in all, FFDP can be predictable, but that is MUCH better than selling out for pop-rock that no one likes. Vocally, this is one of Ivan Moody's strongest performances, which is a positive sign for the vocalist who has recently dove into a life of sobriety. Yes, the album falls flat in terms of creativity and lyrics that actually amount to anything, but that's nothing new compared to their old albums. Again, consistency is key. As painful as it is for me to admit, I *mostly* enjoy the mind-numbing heaviness of their songs. So sure, continue kneeing my face and breaking my arm. I'll like it half of the time.

Top songs: Mother May I, Leave It All Behind, Inside Out

Rating: 3 finger death punches/ 5 finger death punches