After two decades, 10 studio albums and one of modern metal’s most successful careers, Five Finger Death Punch have reached a milestone few bands ever achieve.
The tenth Five Finger Death Punch album, Legacy, arrives today, but according to guitarist and founder Zoltan Bathory, the title isn’t about celebrating the past, it’s about recognising everything the band has fought for while refusing to slow down.
Speaking with us, Bathory said the band never stopped long enough to appreciate what they had built.
“We put out a record every two years, basically,” he explained, reflecting on the relentless cycle of recording and touring that has defined Five Finger Death Punch since forming in 2005.
“There was always another issue to solve, another thing to climb, another record to record.”
Only during the writing of Legacy did he finally have time to look back:
“That’s why we call it legacy,” he said.
For Bathory, there is a clear difference between fame and leaving something behind:
“There is a difference between being famous or being known for something or having a legacy.”
He believes the band’s place in heavy music is now secure:
“If there was a book of heavy metal… 40, 50 years from now… they’re not gonna leave us out of it.”
While Legacy reflects on the band’s first 20 years, Bathory insists it isn’t a farewell:
“This for us is not the end. It is just a milestone.”
That mindset has defined his entire career, rather than viewing success through album sales or sold out arenas, Bathory says his definition has changed over time.
“Success to me is sovereignty.”
Growing up under communist rule in Hungary shaped that philosophy from an early age, driving his determination to build a life where nobody dictated his path.
“There is nobody tells me what to do.”
He believes that freedom wasn’t luck:
“I worked my ass off for this… it’s earned.”
Five Finger Death Punch ‘Eye Of The Storm’ video
An inspiration
That same determination began long before Five Finger Death Punch existed.
Unable to afford a guitar as a teenager, Bathory built his own from his parents’ coffee table using the neck from a broken second hand instrument, he even painted it with military tank paint because it was the only paint available on the army base where he lived.
“It was my first unplayable piece of crap guitar,” he laughed.
Years later, after achieving worldwide success, he tracked down and purchased the very BC Rich guitar that inspired him as a teenager after seeing it in a W.A.S.P. music video.
“I own that guitar. That’s the reminder.”
Five Finger Death Punch ‘Legacy’ Track List:
- Legacy
- De Oppresso Liber
- Eye Of The Storm
- Nails In The Coffin
- In Time
- Unscathed
- Joke’s On Me
- Everybody Lies
- Shelter
- Scapegoat
Listen/buy here.
Now, with Legacy available worldwide, Five Finger Death Punch are celebrating 20 years not by looking backwards, but by proving they’re far from finished. As Bathory puts it, every milestone simply reveals “another horizon beyond it.”
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