Guitarist Zoltan Bathory Says Five Finger Death Punch Haven’t Sold Out

Zoltan Bathory just doesn't get it. The Las Vegas resident and Five Finger Death Punch guitarist says he's read some online criticism of his band and he's confused. The fact that he's Hungarian has nothing to do with it. He just wants to know why his band's been slapped with the "sell-out" label.

"Dude, we put out one record...how the f--- do you sell out on your first record?," he asked Noisecreep. We didn't have an answer for him, but pointed out that many big name bands have signed with major labels, and somehow still eluded that despicable "sell-out" tag. "It was our first record...this is what we sound like, you know? I just think that when something gets successful, for every fan, you get two haters. It just comes with success."

Bathory gave us several examples of other met-tahl (that's how he says it, in his thick, Hungarian accent) bands who've been painted with the same brush, and even predicted one band may join the club. "I wouldn't be surprised if Suicide Silence started catching some s---," Bathory says. "They're another band that's pretty successful and they're brutal. And everyone rips on Dimmu Borgir, that they sold out. How the hell does a black metal band sell out?"

Then, Bathory went on to dispel long-held rumors that the band was assembled by a major label, sort of like the boy bands of the 1990s. "That first record," 2007's 'The Way of the Fist,' "was a record we financed," he says. "We made it, without having a label or a manager. It's 180 degrees from how people actually think it happened. And, our music connects with people, then it connects with people, and live you have to bring it, because if you suck live, it just isn't going to happen."

On September 22, Five Finger Death Punch will issue album numero dos: the appropriately-titled 'War Is the Answer.' Produced by Ozzy Osbourne's studio whiz Kevin Churko in Vegas, the band had just two months to finish the record.

"On the first record, we kind of got a sound," the guitarist starts. "I think its important that a band has a character, where, when you listen to them, you can tell right away, before the singer even starts, what band it is. Like Iron Maiden. So, I think we have a 'sound,' and we were very careful to maintain that. Our sound stayed intact, but we expanded a little bit."

For instance, frontman Ivan Moody "has more space to sing" on this forthcoming LP, and there are more guitar solos. "I guess you could say its more mature, in that we have been together now for three, four years, and you gel with musicians better after playing with them for a couple of years. We sound a little more polished. In every way, it's the next step of the evolution of the band."