“I believe for us, AfterLife isn’t just an evolution but possibly even a paradigm shift in our career, because this record is so vastly different from all the previous ones, yet it still unmistakably sounds like us.”

And in those words, in honesty, Zoltan Bathory has nailed the record and rendered everything I say about Five Finger Death Punch’s ninth album as slightly pointless.

FFDP are one of those bands I’d dismissed a bit before I saw them live. See also Nickelback, I guess. I watched them open for AX7 back in 2013 and it was clear you were watching something special. Over the last almost decade since they’ve not changed my view.

But they do have a signature sound. That American arena rock sound, the modern one. Now, I have no problem whatsoever with signature sounds. I am sitting typing this in a Status Quo shirt, I adore Maiden and if you don’t like AC/DC then I don’t like you, but some bands need a bit more. FFDP are clearly one. And my, how they’ve pushed the boundaries this time!

It all begins in trademark chugging, slightly violent fashion. “You’ve got to kill somebody to know somebody” offers up Ivan Moody on “Welcome To The Circus”, before crucially adding: “Am I the only one who doesn’t wear a disguise?” And maybe this is the real them? Maybe a dig at Kiss? Who knows. It’s a brilliant song.

There are many more on this.

The title track does anger with its fists up in the air and a chorus that in honesty, Bon Jovi would have been proud of in 1986 (clearly they don’t sound like Jovi, but in 2022 this is what arena rock should sound like). “Times Like These” adds a bit of the mid paced southern rock that shows that Bathory worked with Cory Marks, but as if to prove they can still deliver a gut punch, then “Roll Dem Bones” is on hand. Seething like Slipknot (and lets be honest, that’s ever the obvious comparison?) it’s old skool FFDP if you will.

“Pick Up Behind You” is typical of what Bathory said. It could only have been this band, but it’s not a copy of what they have been. It’s a growth to where they are now, and the guitar solo is sensational.

“Judgement Day” is the obvious signpost to this brave new world. Trap? Drill? Whatever. If you know nothing about those things, then think King 810 and you might be somewhere close. But try and get that chorus out of your head. You won’t. You can’t. No one could.

“IOU” and the next couple deal with a different kind of violence. The one in your own mind and if “Thanks For Asking” is one of those acoustic ballads from FFDP that are always better than you think they are, then the sloganeering of “I know the Devil and he told me I’m fine” is perfect. It’s tempting to think of this as a suite of songs  as “Blood And Tar” underlines that the feel of the lyrics is the same, but the playing is as tight and taut as Dream Theater. “All I Know” almost completes it all, and  gets whistling bonus points (I can’t do it. I’m in my late 40s. I am jealous of anyone who can.) but there’s real pain here as it builds.

“Gold Gutter” jolts you out of any reverie. Perfect hard rock, delivered though, with the clenched teeth of thrash and sung at you like its your fault and there’s a bit in it which tells you they’re putting it straight in the live set.

All of this wouldn’t be out of place in their shows. That’s how good it is. “The End” simply asks “when do the nightmares end?” The answer is, in these words, with this type of songwriting? Then never.

It’s been a tumultuous time for FFDP. Their founding drummer left before the last one, their original guitarist James Hook went before this, yet somehow, they’ve emerged even stronger. A better band than ever, like Cinderella said back in 1991, the more things change, the more they stay the same. “Afterlife” is your proof. It’s very different. But it’s the work of one band and one band only.

Knockout.

Rating 8.5/10