My son in law came up to me one day and asked if I would like to borrow the latest 5FDP album, ‘The Wrong Side of Heaven and The Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1’. Having been a fan since their debut I of course thought that it would be a great idea and started playing it a great deal. Then, at work one day a colleague gave me a couple of CDs (I work for a retailer and I am the only metalhead she knows so sometimes I get some samples), one of which was the latest 5FDP album. Great, I thought, that means that I now have two versions of the same album so I returned the first back to my son in law. But it was only when I was examining the packaging that I realised that I had been given the second version of what was quite a special release indeed. Each of the two albums come with an additional disc, Volume 1 contains a live CD whilst Volume 2 has the second disc as a DVD of the same recording. But, in each case the first disc is different. So, onto Volume 2 later, but what about Volume 1?
5FDP have a very simple approach to music, which is produce something that is commercial, appealing, infectious, with a killer bassline and drums so that the listener has no option but to bounce around like a lunatic. It may not be clever, it may not be new, but boy is it fun! If I had to describe the music then it would be an amalgam of nu-metal, hardcore, Beastie Boys and metalcore. But who cares? It is music to jump along to, and as Ivan says on the live disc he is often accused of being angry, but that is just the hardcore animal in him. While the first disc contains some different styles and tempos, the live disc captures the band in their home environment, blasting out in front of an audience who do their level best to sing louder than the amplifiers.
Infectious, fun, this is guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any metalhead who doesn’t take himself or his music too seriously. Put it on, play it loud, end enjoy it for what it is.
