Yes, Five Finger Death Punch have turned into the US military’s soundtrack composers, but the latest development in their careers is wild enough to have a lasting effect on the record industry, particularly for rock and metal bands.
Five Finger Death Punch have been around for twenty years, and to commemorate the occasion, they are releasing a best of compilation, though some of the contents therein are the focus. In an interview with Rock Feed, guitarist Zoltan Bathory revealed that the band’s previous label, with whom they co-owned the masters to their first album The Way of the Fist, sold those masters without the band knowing or signing off on the sale.
If this sounds familiar, this “chess game,” as Bathory called it, is similar to what happened with Taylor Swift and her previous label Big Machine Records, hence why she re-recorded all of her old records and why “Taylor’s Version” has entered the modern musical lexicon.
Check out the full interview with Rock Feed below (the talk of the masters sales starts around the 21 minute mark):
While they’re not calling this an Eras tour, Five Finger Death Punch are following suit and re-recording several of their early tracks, with the first such treatment given to “I Refuse,” which first featured on their 2018 album And Justice For None. This new ballad treatment features guest vocals from Maria Brink of In This Moment. The singer previously worked with the band on “Anywhere But Here” from volume one of their breakout album The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell.
Regardless of the opinions one may hold about the band’s musical output or political leanings, this is a potential sign of things to come on the business end of the music industry. Five Finger leading the charge for heavy music giving their own catalog a facelift, just as acts like Michael Jackson and the aforementioned Swift did before when masters kerfuffles came about, could set a standard for newer acts moving forward in the rock and metal realms.
Now here’s hoping they take out the F-slur in “The Way of the Fist” should that song be re-recorded for Vol. 2.
Best Of Five Finger Death Punch: Vol. 1 is out on July 18th. The track list is as follows:
1. Under and Over It (2025 Version)
2. Wash It All Away (2025 Version)
3. Battle Born (2025 Version)
4. I Refuse (feat. Maria Brink of In This Moment) (2025 Version)
5. Jekyll and Hyde (2025 Version)
6. Wrong Side of Heaven (2025 Version)
7. Lift Me Up (2025 Version)
8. Far From Home (2025 Version)
9. Bad Company (2025 Version)
10. House of the Rising Sun (2025 Version)
11. Gone Away (2025 Version)
12. Remember Everything (2025 Version)
13. Coming Down (2025 Version)
14. The Bleeding (2025 Version)
15. Trouble (Live)
16. Welcome To The Circus (Live)
17. The Bleeding (Live)
