10. Far From Home (2009)
Ivan Moody boasts an expansive range that allows him to easily shift from polished clean vocals to throat-shredding bellows on their heaviest cuts. On this semi-acoustic ballad from War Is The Answer, he showcases a compelling mastery of the softer end of his spectrum with equal measures of force and vulnerability majestically colliding in the song’s epic climax.
9. Remember Everything (2011)
Remember Everything remains a massive crowd favourite due in no small part to its rousing, arms-around-your-mate chorus and its lush power ballad arrangement. It also offers a convincing showcase of the vibrant synergies between Bathory and Hook, with a stunning dual-fretted solo that all but dares you to not wave your lighter high into the night sky.
8. A Little Bit Off (2020)
Guitarist Jason Hook’s final outing with Five Finger Death Punch, F8’s first two singles shoot to the top of the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Smokey acoustic strumming, digital beats and echo-drenched vocals cast the track among the band’s poppiest but it also establishes an open-minded ambition to grow the sound where opportunities arise.
7. Lift Me Up (2013)
What’s not to love about this full-throttle headbanger from The Wrong Side of Heaven... Vol. 1? It’s all there — the two guitarists’ bludgeoning low-end chug, the rubbery, Pantera-flavoured grooving, Moody’s vitriolic delivery and a mighty guest turn from Rob Halford in the second verse. While 5FDP’s catalogue boasts a raft of catchy ballads they made their bones with the heavy stuff and this is one of their best.
6. Bad Company (2009)
Over the years, the band have released a number of covers but none have connected with their fans as deeply as their take on Bad Company’s eponymous anthem. They augmented the original with crushing riffs and a sprawling melodic lead long enough for you to run out and grab a loaf of bread before getting home for the final chorus. There’s only one song they’ve played more often live (we’ll get to that soon).
5. Under And Over It (2011)
The cornerstone of 5FDP’s sound is their pile driving rhythm section — bassist Chris Kael, whose sturdy, palm-muted low end is locked so tightly with the drums that you’d be hard-pressed to slide a sheet of paper between them. Along with former drummer Jeremy Spencer here — playing his kick drum over the snare with relentless force — the two inject tracks like this with a taut, syncopated aggression. Lyrically, Moody takes on all of the trolls, rumour-mongers and keyboard warriors with American Capitalist’s slamming first single.
4. Jekyll And Hyde (2015)
The plan for 2015’s Got Your Six was simple — go straight for the jugular with double helpings of revved-up tempos and bone-powdering riffage. The origin of this track has embedded itself into Death Punch lore: Hook found an old voicemail from Moody, containing a brief sketch of the lyrics. To that voicemail, Hook added some guitar beneath it, cut some of the lyrics into a chorus and sent it out to the guys. The first verse you hear on the album is the actual voicemail and the final result has emerged as one of their most memorable tracks..
3. Wash It All Away (2015)
Another crowd pleaser from Got Your Six, Moody counts this among one of his personal favourites on the record. The verses are pure filth, seething with sleazy riffs and Moody’s defiant swagger but the song’s chorus is straight pop — an ultra-catchy, upbeat showcase of 5FDP’s gift for generating doggedly heavy anthems with enough polish to appeal to both metal and mainstream fans.
2. Wrong Side Of Heaven (2013)
This track confronts the mental and emotional challenges faced by military personnel coming home from war. Notably, the band stepped away from the approach used on their previous ballads and developed some unique drum patterns, grooves and samples. Beyond its evocative lyrical themes, the track catches the band in mid-evolution towards a more modern and at times, experimental, sound.
1. The Bleeding (2007)
Five Finger Death Punch close nearly every show with this unapologetically sentimental, mid-tempo belter from their debut. This was the first song to really launch the band onto the radar of the metal world. It also galvanised the musicians around Bathory’s vision for what 5FDP could be. In an interview with the Pulse Of Radio, Bathory explained, “'The Bleeding was the fish hook of this band that I got all these guys with." Moody added, "When I first heard it, I sat back in my chair and almost cried. I mean, it came so naturally.”
Written in the wake of Moody’s split from his then-fiancée, the death of a friend and the dissolution of his old band, Motograter, The Bleeding presented the singer at his most raw and unguarded. Today, the track sounds as polished and mature as any of the band’s subsequent output, with its arena-sized chorus and a heart-ripping solo by Steelheart guitarist Uros Raskovski. It landed them on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Top Ten and to this day, Moody states that it is “probably the most personal song I’ve ever written.”
