FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's IVAN MOODY Opens Up About 'Personal' Inspiration For 'Judgment Day' Music Video

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH frontman Ivan Moody has opened up about the "personal" inspiration for the official music video for "Judgment Day", a song off the band's latest album, 2022's "AfterLife".

The Nick Peterson-directed clip, which stars Moody as a vigilante comic book hero who takes down a ring of human traffickers, features a story and video concept by Moody and animation by Tristan Zammit and Rodrigo Silveira.

Earlier today (Wednesday, September 27),Moody took to his social media to share a link to the "Judgment Day" video, and he included the following message: "As you've all seen, we have a new music video out for our song Judgement Day. Even though it's not our next 'single', it was important to us to spend the time and put in our best efforts to make this video. It was ESPECIALLY personal to me. See, I'm the only guy in the band who Has children. So, the topic carries a voluminous amount of weight. This video was also a form of therapy for me, in a way. Facing the issue head-on.

"The subject of this video hits home to many and should be above ALL politics," he continued. "Any decent human being should be disgusted by the abhorrent fact of, in our times, in the 21st century, human trafficking, child trafficking and slavery, exists. In fact, there are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in history. This became particularly poignant and personal when I gave my daughter her first smartphone. I thought about all the safety measures, the possibilities, and the responsibilities that come with giving a young child a phone, especially with internet access. Well, It turned out that it wasn't the Internet I couldn't prep-for... It was the psychological effect of the amber alerts. And when she kept receiving alerts about abducted children, runaways, Ect... Well, let's just say she was deeply affected by it and become so critical in her thinking/paranoid, she became concerned about going to school, going out to eat, movies, And how could I blame her...? So, there is my dilemma. I can't downplay the danger, because it's important FOR HER SAFETY to be informed and know the truth. But how do I explain such an ugly truth without scaring her and introducing even MORE anxiety into her life? As I said, In the 21st century this problem should not exist, yet It is a societal issue on a global scale."

Moody added: "I'm not the superhero my daughter thinks I am, I'm not a soldier, a secret agent, or knight in shining-armor, So, unless I plan-on becoming a vigilante, I can't directly fight-this. What I can do however, is to use my platform, my music, and my megaphone and shine a spotlight on this atrocity. I can add my voice to those who are already shouting. I have faith that eventually, Judgment Day will come to those who deserve it. #theend".

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's follow-up to 2020's "F8", "AfterLife" was once again recorded at the Hideout Recording Studio, the Las Vegas, Nevada facility owned and operated by Kevin Churko, the Canadian record producer/engineer and songwriter who has worked on all of FIVE FINGER's albums beginning with the band's sophomore release, 2009's "War Is The Answer".

"AfterLife" is FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's first album with its latest addition, renowned British virtuoso Andy James, who replaced Jason Hook in 2020. James was previously featured on "Broken World", a song that was included on the second installment of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's greatest-hits collection, "A Decade Of Destruction – Volume 2", which came out in the fall of 2020.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH played its first show as the support act for METALLICA on the "M72" tour on August 6 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH was originally supposed to support METALLICA on several European shows this past spring — including April 29 at the Johan Cruijf Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands; on May 17 at Stade De France in Paris, France; and on May 28 at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany — but ended up canceling the dates in order to allow Moody to fully recover from his recent hernia surgery.