This album is the first to have Charlie Engen on drums, who after the retirement of Jeremy Spencer. 

“Fate’ is what [Bathory] and I designed this around. It really just comes to a point where it seems like there were no coincidences. All of this happened for reasons and it just really was suiting,” lead singer Ivan Moody said

The bass guitarist, Zoltan Bathory, also spoke on this topic. 

“Originally, we were just gonna call it ‘8’, sort of. We thought it’s the eighth record, and if you wanted to be esoteric about it, we figured, well, if you turn the ‘8’ sideways, it’s the symbol of infinity. There was some play with the visuals,” Bathory said.

“I do most of the design and the graphics for the merch in the band in general… So, I was playing around with the graphics and I thought it maybe needs a bit more. And we were bouncing around ideas, and we added the letter ‘F.’ So it was, like, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH’s eighth record. At the same time, if you want to read it phonetically, it could be ‘fate.'”

The regular album has 13 songs on it and the deluxe edition contains three more. The songs are “F8”, “Inside Out”, “Full Circle”, “Living The Dream”, “A Little Bit Off”, “Bottom Of The Top”, “To Be Alone”, “Mother May I (Tic Toc)”, “Darkness Settles In”, “This Is War”, “Leave It All Behind”, “Scar Tissue”, “Brighter Side Of Gray”, “Making Monsters”, “Death Punch Therapy”, and “Inside Out (Radio Edit). 

The lead-in song “F8” is a slow instrumental that starts to build from very soft to a heavier mix. It was present the band’s release of the official lyric video of “Inside Out.” 

The first single off of the album comes in heavy off the lead-in and is very similar to what the band has become known for. Moody has said that the song is meant to detail his own struggles with addiction and going threw rehab.   

The next song is the second single to come off the album, “Full Circle”. The song features a fast guitar rhythm and heavy drum beats. The lines in the song have a more somber tone despite the heavy style with lines like, “I know I’m never gonna change the world/ I’m not sure that I could even if I tried.” 

The next song is the third and most recent single off the album, “Living The Dream”. The song has some pop culture references in the opening verse that pulls in listeners quickly. The song comes across as vague, but it also addresses the views that the band shares on the direction of the world as a whole and then makes the claim that this is “living the dream.” 

The fifth song is very different from everything thus far on the album. There is mostly acoustic guitar with a softer drum beat in the chorus. Moody’s vocals are crazy good in this song and he is able to communicate the message very effectively. The song sounds like it is about his and other band members’ experiences dealing with addiction and recovering from drug use.    

The next song seems to call out some fans from the very start with the lines, “Is this metal enough for you?/ Is it heavy enough, destructive enough?/ Am I dead enough for you?/ Am I tough enough, corrupt enough?” This theme continues threw the song and relates to Moody saying that he felt the last two albums were to normalized and not have the same meaning as the band’s usual content. 

The next song is “To Be Alone”. The song sounds very direct and the power in Moody’s Voice makes it seem like he is thinking of a specific person as he sings it. He seems to be venting and saying things to someone that he had never said before and wants to get it off his chest. 

The next song, “Mother May I (Tic Toc)”, is similar in style to the first few songs on the album. There are deeper more screaming parts on vocals, but the song is dominated by Moody’s usual low voice high emotion singing. The strongest part of the song is the spoken word near the end that hammers home a theme. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change/ The courage to change the things I can/ And the wisdom to know the difference.”

The next song is “Darkness Settles In”. The song starts with an acoustic guitar but does get heavier later. The song seems to outline a vain struggle against something; either against a higher power or against a substance of some type.

The next song is “This Is War”. This song is one of the heaviest on the album and is mostly screamo. There are a lot of quick guitar rifts, but the main highlight is the heavy pounding drum.    

The next song on the album, “Leave It All Behind”, is considerably calmer than the last. The song seems to be an offer of help from Moody to either a friend or his past self who is going through addiction. The song still maintains a hard drum beat, but the vocals are back to Moody’s normal style. 

The next song picks up a lot more speed than the previous song. “Scar Tissue” starts with an insanely quick rift, quick drum beat, and harsh and fast vocals. The song seems to be directed at someone like some of the others have been and seems to be like a conversation with that person. 

The next song is one of the slower on the album and is the end of the regular album. “Brighter Side Of Gray” has both electric and acoustic guitar in it and a mellower drum beat. The vocals are stunning on this song and are some of the best on the album. The song is written as a letter of someone leaving either the town or, what seems most likely, this life. 

With the deluxe edition, fans get three songs added to the album, the first being “Making Monsters”. The song is heavy and is an address to a general audience about the game of life. 

The next song is “Death Punch Therapy”. This song has several callbacks to the bands more popular songs. The song is heavy and features the band’s usual playing style. The song also is the band trying to take back control of their story where they feel that they have been drifting away from their original purpose.

The final song is the radio version of “Inside Out”. The song starts with the first half of the song’s chorus sung slower to a building intro and other than that it is the same as the original “Inside Out”. 

Five Finger Death Punch certainly did not disappoint with this album and fans should be excited about the direction the band is headed in moving forward.