What a fist.

This is one of the first bands I got into when I first started listening to metal. I love their sound, it's hard-hitting, it's loud, and it's awesome as hell. I used Pandora to find them. I searched up Slipknot, and I got Korn, gay Disturbed, and then I got this band. I loved their sound, way better than Disturbed, for sure. This band is Five Finger Death Punch.

Five Finger Death Punch is an American heavy metal band forming around 2005. It consists of 5 band members: Ivan Moody (vocals), Zoltan Bathory (lead guitar), Jason Hook (guitar), Matt Snell (bassist), and Jeremy Spencer (drummer). They only have 2 studio albums, and there will be a new album coming out around 2011. The studio albums are The Way of The Fist and War is The Answer.

When I first heard of this band, I had their singles stuck in my head. I liked, scratch that, loved how Ivan sang. If I can have any wish in the world, I would wish for more wishes and when I start wishing away, I would wish to have an awesome voice like Ivan does. If you've never heard of this band, then go find The Way of The Fist in your local media store and listen to it. Let me explain why now.

"The Way of The Fist" 2007

The first three songs I heard from this album, in Pandora, are Never Enough, The Way of The Fist, Death Before Dishonor. I fell in love with this man's voice. It's just so perfect, why can't the type of vocals be used in other bands, instead of just average yelling? If anything, they should get voice lessons from Ivan, they'll even notice it's friggin' awesome. Well, since they're pretty much a new band, it took them a while for FFDP to make a new album. Still, this album had awesomeness written all over it and FFDP fans wouldn't ask for more. Until they released their latest album last year, that's when the fans went hysterical. Imagine, this is an award winning album, if you haven't heard this album, you just have to. Some songs to acknowledge, Can't Heal You is one of those songs that don't only make you want to scream out, but if you read the lyrics, you'll appreciate the emotion Ivan tries to pour on you. "The deeper you get, the farther you fall down. The closer I get, the more you dissolve." There's also The Bleeding. It's supposed to be a song where emotions just fall into the right place and everything tends to be sad. In order to get the most out of this song, listen to the acoustic version, it was meant to be for acoustic. Overall, this album is an 8 out of 10. Even if it was good, the songs seem to sound the same.

"War is the Answer" 2009

If you think "The Way of the Fist" was a great album, you haven't heard this album yet. It's just their second studio album and it bleeds pure sickness. I find it way better than their previous album and they have only made 2 albums overall. If they made such a success with their first two album, imagine the possibilities for this band to go very far. Hopefully, they won't go so far that they go mainstream, because if they stick with the way they make their music, they can be very popular. I've heard this album a couple of times non-stop. It's more satisfying than the previous album, I never got bored. Even if when I heard the instrumental piece, Canto 34, I didn't get bored. Listening to the very first song, Dying Breed, I got goosebumps. Continuing with the track list, No One Gets Left Behind is an awesome song to find the guitar/drum tabs and just jam out to. Walk Away seems like a soft song, but you can classify it as the power ballad in this album, and it sounds really good in the album. Hell, all the songs in this album are really good. This album is a 10 out of 10!

Overall, this band is a 9 out of 10. Since they only have made 2 albums, just imagine the rating other music reviewers will give them. Five Finger Death Punch doesn't really have much publicity in the public, but they will have their time to shine, I'm sure of it. Next time you see their name pop up in TV, or the computer, or you see someone with an FFDP shirt, that's when you know this band is reaching out. Recent news, the band will enter the studio by the end of this year to work on a new album. Their website: http://www.fivefingerdeathpunch.com/

Until next time, goodbye.

I thought I never would.

This is a review I've been dreading to do. I've been asked to do this band for quite some time, but I never wanted to because I disliked them until now. I first heard of them when my friend showed me one song, and I pretty much liked it. But then, I heard it again, and I started disliking the vocalist. The music itself is awesome, but this type of vocalist annoyed me. The vocalist in this band uses high pitch vocals, and I couldn't stand it. Until recently, I brushed off the pickyness and I said the truth, I sort of like high pitch vocalists. I don't like it completely, but I like them from this band. People can say what they want, but my views have changed and I like this band, just sometimes the vocalist gets pretty boring, but the music kicks it back up. This band is Protest the Hero.

Protest the Hero, used to be called "Happy Go Lucky", is a Canadian progressive metal band formed around 1999. The band consist of 4 members: Rody Walker (vocalist), Luke Hoskin (lead guitar), Tim Millar (rhythm guitar), Arif Mirabdolbaghi (bass guitar), and Moe Carlson (drummer). They have two studio albums, Keiza and Fortress, and three 'extended plays', Search for the Truth, Calculated Use of Sound, and Sequoia Throne/Remix EP.

I wouldn't even bother listening to this band if it weren't for a couple of kids that I know. Well, I'll try to review everything in order, since they're debut album was after a couple of extended plays. I'll display which album are the studio albums and which are the extended play. So, enough with the chitchat, onto the review!

(Extended play) "Search for the Truth" 2002

There are just 2 songs in this play. They're called Is Anybody There? and Silent Genocide. When I heard Is Anybody There?, it sounds just like average metal sounding music with a really high pitch vocalist. Not that it's a bad thing, it just sounds whatever. As for Silent Genocide, I don't find it great. It just sounds like your average wannabe trash song. 3 out of 10.

(Extended play) "A Calculated Use of Sound" 2003 and then re-released 2004

Now this sounds better than "Search for the Truth." I'm sorry, but the music overall, drums, guitar, and vocalist, remind me of My Chemical Romance. That's a bad thing because MCR SUCKS. Well, atleast Protest the Hero is it's own band, not an MCR ripoff. In this album, I only like 3 songs. Red Stars Over the Battle of the Cowshed, An Apathetic World, and I Am Dmitri Karamazov and the World is My Father. This album sounds okay, but still, this is early Protest the Hero. Music changes overtime. 5 out of 10.

(Studio/Debut album) "Kezia" 2005 [in Canada] 2006 [in the U.S.]

Well, this album is said to be a concept album. It's about a woman named Kezia who is being executed. The album consists of 4 parts, the first part is about the priest who does the execution, one of the prison guard who kills her, Kezia's point of view, and then the finale. Let's get started. Part 1: By listening to the first song, it blew me away. I can't believe I'm saying this, but just listening to the first part, I think I pretty much like Protest the Hero. I guess you just have to listen to them before you give a fully honest judgement. All I know that as of right now, this is friggin' awesome. Part 2: "Place your justice in my palm and I'll make a fist." "I begged this place to let me burn, and it whispered, 'burn away.'" "Psychological drama of our social justice." I hate to say this, but I can't believe I haven't heard of this band before. Part 3: I find it amusing that She Who Mars The Skin Of Gods all end with rhymes. Back to the music, simply amazing. Those riffs, I've barely heard them in any band and now that I hear them more often used in this band, I like it. And of course, the vocalist. I guess I like Rody's voice, but it gets a tad boring, until the harsh vocals comes in. Still, the music blows me away. Part 4: God, this is simply amazing. And it's just one song, A Plateful of Our Dead. Okay, this album is simply amazing. I just have to say only ONE thing though. Since I'm not used to high pitch vocals, I gotta give this album a 9.5 out of 10. It's close there, but the high pitch isn't exactly my style.

(Studio album) "Fortress" 2008

The final studio album. There is also a remix EP, but I won't review that since it's basically remixes of their songs and instrumental work. I'd rather work on the actual music, not remixes. This album is also divided into parts, 3 of them. I'll do what I did when I reviewed "Kezia", bold the titles of the different sections. On Conquest and Capture: Not much different from the previous album, but I do admire the difference in the vocalist. He uses his normal high pitch vocals and then switches to harsh and whisper in some songs in this section. I also still greatly admire the guitar riffs, I haven't heard of those riffs in any band that I can't think of. (Untitled): Sequoia Throne is the first song in this section and the first song I heard from this band last year. I got bored of listening to the vocalist using high pitch vocals so that's why I was hating on the band, just because of the vocals being used. But now, being more mature and listening to other music like this, I like the way the guitar uses the riffs to pretty much match the vocalist pitch. I do have to admire that now, listening more and more into this album, the vocalist changes to harsh, and I admire that. I like harsh vocals and in this section, I hear him use more harsh vocals in every song. Especially Limb from Limb. Isosceles: I like this section out of the 3 because it seems more louder, more insane, more frantic. I would love to jump up and punch a tree with Wretch, Goddess Bound just sounds completely insane, and Goddess Gagged is just an awesome song to finish the album. All these songs are out there, and I like that. I give this album a 10 out of 10, oddly enough.

Well, that's it for this band. They'll release a new album sometime next year, 2011. Until then, I recommend buying "Fortress" because I like that album out of any other album released before. I do have to say, even if I admire the usage of the different way Rody changes his voice, I still don't prefer high pitch vocalists than my type of vocalist. The ones you hear screaming with a low pitch. But not death metal, those vocalist make it seem like they hurt.

Until next time, goodbye.

Now that I'm back,

It's time to go back to normal and start reviewing bands. To start, I recently heard about this band. Just this year a friend of mine introduced me to them and I gotta say, I like their music. They were formed around 2003, but made their debut album in 2006. Their first single, recorded 2006, was #1 in an international metal chart and received many awards including best vocals, best guitars, best drums, and more. They've had many ups and downs, but in the end, it's the music that makes everything happen. This band is called Threat Signal.

Threat Signal is a Canadian Melodic Death Metal band formed in 2003. It consists of Jon Howar, vocals, Pat Kavanagh, bass, Travis Montgomery, guitar, and Norman Killeen, drummer. They only have two albums, Under Reprisal and Vigilance.

When I first heard this band, I thought it was going to be just an average sound, like every other melodic death metal band sounds like. It sucks that most of those bands, after having 2 or more albums, start sounding metalcore than melodic death metal. It's sad to know that, but oh well. The first album sounds alright, it's pretty friggin' awesome. Then the second album, you can say they sounds the same. We'll see right now, just read further.

"Under Reprisal" 2006

When Threat Signal made this album, they had a different lineup in the members. Due to personal problems and whatnot, they had to get new members. Well, when I heard this album, I was amazed. I didn't have any idea what I was going to get myself into. I just thought it was gonna be same band there that say they're good, but it's the complete opposite. Knowing that I love Sonic Syndicate, when I heard this band, it reminded me of them, just less better. Still, this album is awesome. The single from this album, Rational Eyes, was the first song in the tracklist. It's a great choice to start an album, it makes you want to know what else is in this album that sounds like the single. The song after, As I Destruct, sounds pretty sad, which, off the bat, is bad. After knowing theres a sad-ish song, right after that song comes a song that kicks your ass, One Last Breath. As soon as you think next couple of songs sound the same, just wait until you listen the next single, A New Beginning. That song starts slow and then it just gets fast and quick paced. Seriously, if you've never heard of this band, now you have. And now that you know, go listen to them, you won't feel empty. This album is 8 out of 10.

"Vigilance" 2009

After listening to "Under Reprisal", I was blown away. I expected this album to match with the past album and it certainly did. Awesome riffs, fills, and breakdowns are throughout this whole album. My favorite songs are Afterlife, Through My Eyes, United We Stand(only the intro), Beyond Recognition, and most of the other songs in this album as well. The only thing I have to say is that most of these songs are long. They get pretty boring after a while. Sometimes it's good to have a long song, but only if it kicks you in every way possible, but certain songs in this album doesn't really do so, which I disapprove. So, this album gets a 7 out of 10.

Well, that's all for this review. It felt a bit awkward writing this review since I got used to saying what I thought of every song in every Slipknot album, so I'm trying to get used to doing what I used to do, reviewing the album, not every single song. This band is an 8 out of 10. I can see them do more successful in the future. There isn't any recent news, just that this band is touring with Dark Tranquility and some other band I can't figure their name out. If you want to know more information, visit their Myspace (they don't really have an official page yet): http://www.myspace.com/threatsignal.