ZOLTAN BATHORY: FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Is 'Not Even Close' To Retiring

In a new interview with Alena Hamberger of Germany's Rock Antenne, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory once again 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 about the significance of the "Legacy" album title and what it means to him and his bandmates, Zoltan said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, basically, the title is 'Legacy' because — it's kind of a milestone, but it's a big one. Tenth album, which not many bands get that far, that they get to make ten albums and successfully. Ten album, twenty years, it just happens so that all these numbers coincided.

"I got this question. People told me before, like, ''Legacy', it sounds like you guys are retiring.' I go, 'No, not even close.' But it's more like a marker, like, 'Wow, we got this far,'" Zoltan explained. "And it was us kind of talking about how when you were a kid, did you think, growing up, you're gonna be a musician — because we all want it to be, obviously. But when you were dreaming of the band in the future you're gonna be, did you dream of that, that you're gonna create a band that will actually have a legacy? A legacy, that means 20, 30, 40, 100 years from now, if they write a book about this era of where we lived in and heavy metal and hard rock, we will not be forgotten. We will be in the book. We have a legacy. We're not gonna be left out. It mattered enough. It mattered to millions of people, so we do have a legacy."

Zoltan also talked about FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's relationship with its fans and how that ties into the "Legacy" album title. He said: "We have a different fanbase than most bands. This fanbase is a tribe. It's a family. Some of them are with us literally from the first album. And so this legacy is ours combined — meaning theirs and ours. We grew up together, and even multi-generational. There are fans who... Sometimes I run into people who say, like, 'Hey, I was on stage with you guys when I was 10 years old.' And, [I'm] like, 'What? You, you look like you're 30 and you have two kids.' And, like, yeah. And then that's when I realize, 'Oh my God... We've been around so long.' And he's, like, 'My son is a big fan now.' So it's generational as well. So that's kind of what the record title means — it's a celebration [that] we got this far, that we actually have a legacy."

"I'm not saying you're nothing without your fans, but you're not successful without fans, obviously," Zoltan continued. "So, you can't get there. You can't become successful if you don't have a massive fanbase. Those fans carry you. You're giving them something. You're giving them something special that obviously matters to them and they love, but they give you their love and support, and that's how this works. That's what I meant by this is not just our legacy — it's ours, as in us and the fans. In fact, look, we have a lot of fanbases all over the world. We have a massive one in Germany, Norway, U.K. Not a single fan club we ever started. It was always started by the fans for themselves, and they communicate, they get together. So there is a huge network, a global network of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH fan clubs. They are completely self-made, self-run. We never made any of them. They did it, and they're with us for decades, literally. That's pretty amazing… That takes time and investment of your time and efforts that they literally build web pages. And as I said, they communicate to each other. So all right, sure, and I can see the flags. The U.K. club, the German and the Norwegian club are all there with their local flags that they convert their country's flag into a DEATH PUNCH flag. I mean, it's insane. And just the fact that they did it. They actually made this fan club, and they built their online presence, everything… I mean, that's the best fanbase you can imagine. It's insane."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH performed the previously unreleased "Legacy" title track live for the first time at the kick-off concert of the group's summer 2026 North American tour on July 20 at Camden, New Jersey's Freedom Mortgage Pavilion. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH also played two other songs from "Legacy" which were already made available as singles, "Eye Of The Storm" and "De Oppresso Liber".

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."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH has just embarked 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 kicked off in Camden, New Jersey and will wrap 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