Five Finger Death Punch's Zoltan Bathory compares his band to Queen

Queen and Five Finger Death Punch — (Image credit: Queen: FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images ; FFDP: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Zoltan Bathory has revealed one of the bands he looks to the most for inspiration when it comes to framing FFDP's current career path - and it may surprise some fans.

In an exclusive interview in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, Bathory name-checks none other than British rock royalty Queen when discussing the issues many bands face in establishing a signature sound but still being able to experiment with their music.

Speaking on forthcoming Five Finger Death Punch album Afterlife, he notes: "This is the ninth record, and at this point everyone knows who we are and the sound. It's very difficult to achieve a signature sound, but when you have that, you have nothing to prove and it allows you to venture farther away. Take Queen: you can't categorise Queen, and that's the place you want to be, because you can do anything."

Explaining his point in relation to the band's new record, Bathory adds: "For us, I think this is the record where that's really starting. For an artist, as much as you want to be free, there's all this expectation, and you set yourself up, like, 'I have all these hit songs so I have to keep repeating that.' That's why I mentioned Queen, because those guys didn't give a shit, they wrote whatever the hell they felt like writing. That's as honest as music can be."

New Five Finger Death Punch album Afterlife is out August 19. Read more from the band in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, on sale in shops across the UK and available to order online here.

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Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.

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