Zoltan Bathory Admits Five Finger Death Punch Have Been ‘Talking About Some Crazy Stuff’

On Friday (April 5), Zoltan Bathory joined Loudwire Nights to dive deep into Five Finger Death Punch's brand-new song, "This Is the Way," featuring the late DMX.

"I was always a fan," Bathory told host Chuck Armstrong about DMX. "Ivan [Moody] loves DMX, so there was always a conversation where we're like, 'How cool would it be if we could work with DMX.'"

Bathory said that conversation happened five or six years ago, but for various reasons, DMX was never available when the band was or the band wasn't available when DMX was.

Unfortunately, DMX passed away in 2021.

"Eventually we got an opportunity with some of [DMX's] master recordings," Bathory explained. "We got a green light on that — we can use these verses, these lyrics. So we had the masters and we basically reverse-engineered it. There was music under it, we took off the music and wrote new music and then sort of melded it with our style."

While Five Finger were excited to release this new song featuring DMX, it became very difficult to get all the needed approvals to include it on their 2022 album, AfterLife.

"Every single person that was ever involved in those tracks, they had to sign off and give us a green light. That was a really interesting process."

Five Finger Death Punch Finally Found Closure With AfterLife

Rather than delay the release of AfterLife, the band decided to hold back "This Is the Way" until it was ready for the public.

Finally, on April 5, Five Finger released the digital deluxe edition of AfterLife featuring the song, providing Bathory and the band with a sense of closure.

"It never felt whole," he admitted about the initial release of AfterLife.

"When we record an album, there is an understanding of flow ... It's definitely closure because we've completed the record how it was meant to be."

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While some fans might be surprised to hear Five Finger Death Punch and DMX on the same track, Bathory said the collaboration is exactly what the band strives for — and fans should get ready for more in the near future.

"We're sitting around and somebody goes, 'You know what would be cool and weird at the same time,' and then it happens," he said, laughing.

"We're talking about some crazy stuff."

What Else Did Five Finger Death Punch's Zoltan Bathory Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What his next item on his bucket list is: "I definitely want to get my astronaut wings."
• Why the band was so nervous to play on Metallica's donut-shaped stage for the M72 tour
• How they ended up working with Hype Williams on the music video for "This Is the Way"

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Zoltan Bathory joined Loudwire Nights on Friday, April 5; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.