FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH ‘War Is the Answer’ (Prospect Park) RATING: 9/10

By GREG MAKI

“I’ll slap you so fuckin’ hard it’ll feel like you kissed a freight train.” — Ivan Moody, “War Is the Answer”

The Way of the Fist, the debut album by Five Finger Death Punch, released in 2007, came at the listener like a sucker punch to the gut. Rarely do new bands come out of the gate with their sound and vision so direct, motivated and confident. A mix of American aggression and European sense of melody in the guitar attack proved to be a lethal combination, winning a legion of fans on both U.S. and European shores, selling more than 340,000 albums—an astounding number for a new metal band given the state of the music industry today—and winning Metal Hammer’s Golden God Award for best new band.

5FDP wasted no time in delivering its follow-up, War Is the Answer—a title that epitomizes its take-no-prisoners attitude. From the opening notes of “Dying Breed” the sound is undeniably Death Punch, and frontman Ivan Moody’s growl sounds more ferocious than ever (his spoken vocal delivery on track three, “Bullet Proof,” is even more intimidating). No song is one-dimensional, as either a melodic chorus or guitar solo swoops in to provide a respite from the onslaught. The first single, “Hard to See,” similar to “Never Enough,” borders on hard rock and features Moody singing throughout. Moody also shows off his healthy pipes on power ballads “Crossing Over” and “Far from Home,” and a road-weary cover of “Bad Company” (originally by the band of the same name). It’s easy to picture a sea of lighters held high as gentle strings accompany “Far from Home.”

Don’t worry, metalheads, there is plenty to appease fans of their heavier material. The new moshpit anthems include the aforementioned “Dying Breed,” “Bullet Proof,” “No One Gets Left Behind,” “Burn It Down,” “Falling in Hate” and “War Is the Answer.” The freight train Moody boasts of on the title track is here in force. But due to both songwriting and sequencing (one of the most unrelenting numbers, “Burn It Down,” falls between the two power ballads), there is a greater sense of dynamics than on the first album. It might not be the all-out assault that The Way of the Fist was, but it hits harder in a way because of it.

Guitarist Jason Hook is new to the band (replacing Darrell Roberts), and if anything, the playing is stepped up a notch. The riffing, which is varied and distinctive from song to song, is the music’s driving force. There is also a greater emphasis on solos, and Hook and Zoltan Bathory are all over the instrumental “Canto 34.” I haven’t seen the new lineup live yet, but they appear to be tighter than ever.

Objectively, War Is the Answer is as good as—if not better than—The Way of the Fist. I’m ranking it slightly lower, though, because after more than two years of familiarity with Five Finger Death Punch it didn’t have the same flooring effect on me as the first album. But it’s growing on me with each listen; instead of sending me to the mat with an immediate knockout, this one might be a TKO. The end result is the same—the way there is just a little different.