FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's ZOLTAN BATHORY On Upcoming 'Legacy' Album: 'If You Hear This Record, This Will Give You The Blueprint Of What This Band Is'

In a new interview with Finland's Chaoszine, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory spoke about the band's upcoming tenth studio album, "Legacy", which will be released later this summer. The digital version will arrive on July 31 while the CD, vinyl and cassette versions will land on September 18. Asked if he and his bandmates had a firm plan going into the songwriting and recording process for "Legacy", Zoltan said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "You gotta have an idea of where you're going. And we construct everything with that in mind. So it's a well-contained nuclear explosion, Ivan [Moody, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH singer] being the explosion, and [the rest of us] are being the containers. [Laughs] Well, basically what it is, is that it's eye of the storm. We actually live in the eye of the storm. There's stuff around us always crazy, and a peaceful moment is really the show. When you walk on stage, the same way how you disconnect the audience from everyday life, we are also disconnected. So you're not thinking of anything else. That's the show. That's kind of our meditation in some way, because everything else falls away. You have to have a plan. We always do. I like that part, the architecture of things, the chess game of life. I love that part. And so, of course, I have a plan. But I have to be flexible. I have to be able to adapt. So wherever something happens, you have to pivot, and you have to kind of go with the punches, so to speak... It's like success. Everybody goes, like, 'Okay, I wanna be successful.' And success goes from here to here. That's the line. It's never a straight line. You're just driving the car and dodging whatever is coming at you, the proverbial car. But, basically, that's what it is. So, do we have a plan? Yes, absolutely we have a plan. Do we roll with the punches? Yeah, we absolutely have to. So that's kind of like you have to have the balance of you know where you're going, but you have to be flexible. Darwin never said 'the strongest survive.' That's a misquote. The most adaptable survive. So that's really what it is, that you have to adapt to whatever comes."

Regarding how FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH arrived at the "Legacy" album title, Zoltan said: "Well, obviously we had various ideas for the title. The obvious would have been the big [Roman numeral] 'X', [signifying that it's album number] 10, but everybody has done that anyway. So we would be just another band [doing that]. But it was kind of the moment where we re-recorded our greatest hits, and that was the first moment when we were, like, 'Wow, man, all these things that we have done, all this history we have done.' And so we were kind of reflecting on that. And we were also talking about how every record that you make has a purpose. So literally every single record in any band's career, not just ours, any band's career, there's a position that record is in and what it's supposed to do. Like your first record — your first record is there to kick down the door. That's your introduction. So your first record is introducing the band and here you go. If it's successful, then possibly you can make a second record. And if it was successful, then everybody's looking at it, like, 'Okay, was it a one-hit wonder? Can they do it again?' So that's your second record, is you have to prove that the first one wasn't a fluke. If the second record is successful, now it's, like, 'Okay, here comes the big third. Can they still do it?' Then the fourth record, like, 'Okay, now they earned a right to be here, so do they have anything else to say?' Fifth record is when people are, like, 'Okay, now we heard this band four times. Can they give us something new?' And then if you do that, there's the sixth record. And so every single one of these records has a position and what it's supposed to do. And you have to kind of navigate that. You don't wanna move away from your sound, because you have a sound. If you're a band who has a sound — actually, that's also not easy to achieve, but if you're recognizable, like AC/DC. Why would they move away from that? That's their sound. That's what comes out of AC/DC. Same with IRON MAIDEN. Same with all these big bands. And DEATH PUNCH has a sound. So the navigation is, like, how do we keep that sound? Because this is what comes out anyway, so this is natural. But at the same time, you have to kind of progress. You have to kind of do different things. And there's a limit to that too, because if I was, like, 'Okay, let's take half the record and we're gonna experiment with things,' that is a very different record. If you have — let's say, I don't know — 12 songs, you can sacrifice two, three maybe to, 'Let's do something interesting,' before you start to sway the record into a totally different direction. So it's kind of [like] cooking. How much salt, how much pepper. You have to kind of know what's happening. And this was 20 years, 10th record, so it was really, like, well, I think we do have a legacy now. If somebody writes a book about hard rock, heavy metal 20 years from now, they're not gonna leave us out of the book. We were here, and we did something in an era."

Zoltan continued: "I always say this, that there's a big difference between being famous and having a legacy. [Like] the 'Hawk Tuah' girl or whatever the hell it was. That's being famous for a minute. And the Internet blows up, and you're a meme for a minute, and then it disappears. That's not legacy. A legacy is something that you have to work at. You have to constantly build something that is here to stay… And so that's kind of how it felt. And in your life and your career, different things are important. As I said, every record has its [purpose in terms of] what it's supposed to do. And right now we are at that phase, we are thinking about our legacy. We've been around for this long, and as people, your mind starts shifting and you think differently, and that's kind of how we looked at it, like, 'Wow, this is our legacy now. It's maybe time to do a documentary. It's maybe time to do those kind of things.'"

Asked if the process of making FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's recent albums, "Best Of - Volume 1" and "Best Of - Volume 2", which feature newly re-recorded versions of the band's biggest hits,  influenced the songwriting process for "Legacy", Zoltan said: "Well, when you go to the studio, if you are a real band, you're gonna go to the studio and you know that you have a sound. The combination of these people, when you put them together, will result in something. Then that's what that is. So we're not going in a studio with the idea of, like, 'Let's do this,' or, 'Let's do that.' Just do your thing. Just play what you like. Do what comes out naturally. Because then that's your true sound. That's what you like anyway. Most importantly, it's not even about serving any demographic; it's about what you like. Because then whatever happens, we did something that we were happy with. Once I'm happy with what we did, then I don't care who says what. Because the reason of your existence is because I like doing this and I did what I like. So nobody can have a problem with that. Now, if the fans like it, that's awesome. If you have an audience for what you like, that's a great connector and that's a connection between you and the fans. But that's always the idea. Nothing's stupid. Bring any ideas, 'cause you don't know where something can go. That's one of the things. And we always do that, and so many times there's a crazy idea that's out there. And by the time the song is done, it's completely transformed. You don't even recognize it from the original idea. So those are the rules. Bring whatever ideas you have. We'll figure it out. Write everything that comes to you. Don't try to fill a quota. Don't try to fill an expectation. Just do what you wanna do. And then you live in that comfort zone of that whatever we did, we are happy with. So that's kind of how it goes. Now, with that said, going to the studio with this record, we were kind of looking at it how far we came and what happened before. So, it wasn't a consciously, like, 'Let's write this,' but it's more like we had more time, so this is the first time we actually have four years between two records. Usually it's just two. And so we had a little bit more time. We had more time to write, so we had more songs. So we had maybe like 25, 30 songs that were pretty solid music-wise. Like, okay, these are songs. And if anything was conscious, the conscious decision was which one of these 25, 30 ideas will make it? That was conscious. Like, let's pick the ones that will represent this band, what it is. So if you today ask me, 'Hey, give me one FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH record — one — that will represent the band,' actually, I would give you this one. I would say, 'Take this. This is FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH. If you hear this record, this will give you the blueprint of what this band is.' So that part was conscious, but not in the writing, but more of the picking of what song is gonna make it. That way it was conscious."

Two songs from "Legacy" have been released so far, "De Oppresso Liber" and "Eye Of The Storm".

"'De Oppresso Liber' is more than just a motto," Bathory previously said. "It's a calling. It's a philosophy. It represents a willingness to stand between danger and those who cannot defend themselves. Throughout human history, there have always been people who were drawn to accept that responsibility. This song is our way of paying respect to that mindset."

Revolver hailed "Eye Of The Storm" as "huge," going on to praise how "it mixes a flurry of battering metal chugs with a sense of melody, plus Ivan Moody's pensive-but-barked lyrics hinting at fears, regrets, burdens, blame, and the search for some kind of inner peace." Loudwire raved: "The song is a driving, furious banger that kicks off what's expected to be a new album cycle in grand fashion."

"Legacy" track listing:

01. Legacy
02. De Oppresso Liber
03. Eye Of The Storm
04. Nails In The Coffin
05. In Time
06. Unscathed
07. Joke's On Me
08. Everybody Lies
09. Shelter
10. Scapegoat

This summer, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH will embark on the first leg of the 20th-anniversary world tour which will take the band all across North America with special guest Cody Jinks and EVA UNDER FIRE before hitting arenas in Europe with LAMB OF GOD and BLEED FROM WITHIN in early 2027.

The 20th-anniversary world tour is both a celebration and a statement, honoring FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's journey from their 2005 formation and release of their debut album, "The Way Of The Fist", in 2007 to global arena headliners. The tour will showcase material from the new album, alongside classic anthems and No. 1 hits that defined the past two decades.

Produced by Live Nation, the 48-city North American tour kicks off on July 20 at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey and wraps up on October 23 at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia.

In addition to celebrating two decades of music, the band is once again using its platform to give back. Long recognized as one of the most charitable bands in rock, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH has spent decades giving back to various causes, including U.S. military veterans and first responders and their families. In 2026, the band is continuing that tradition by supporting Team USA and aligning with the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games being held on American soil in Los Angeles in 2028. As part of the tour's commitment to championing America's next generation of athletes, a portion of the ticket sales from the 2026 North American tour will benefit high-performance programs for U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes as they prepare for international competition.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's 2027 European tour leg with LAMB OF GOD and BLEED FROM WITHIN will kick off in the U.K. in Manchester on January 16 and will see the band perform in 21 cities across the continent, ending in Helsinki on February 22.

Photo credit: Stephen Jensen