So, um, I want you to mentally travel back to
2015 for just a second. Oh, wow. Yeah, that is
a very specific era. Right. Think about where
the music industry actually was at that point.
It was in this... incredibly weird transitional
limbo. Absolutely. Spotify and Apple Music were
really starting to just dig their claws in. But
physical sales. They were falling off a cliff.
Exactly. CDs, vinyl. They were just tanking.
And the narrative in, you know, basically every
major publication at the time was that. The album
format is dead. Yeah, that rock was on life support.
Right. Nobody buys music anymore. That was the
headline everywhere. It was definitely the year
of the, well, the pivot to video and obviously
the pivot to screaming. If you weren't a massive
pop star like Taylor Swift or Adele, the industry
expectation was just that you wouldn't move physical
units. Right. The smart money was entirely betting
against the traditional album release. It really
was. And yet, right in the middle of this massive
digital revolution, you have this groove metal
juggernaut five -fingered death punch. Yeah.
Deciding to drop their sixth studio album. Got
your six. Got your six, exactly. And the reason
we are doing a deep dive on this specific record
today isn't just because, you know, it has heavy
riffs. It definitely has those. Ah, yeah, it
does. But it's because this album was just a
complete... business anomaly it's a fascinating
case study it really is this story of contrarian
success yeah because while everyone else was
chasing those streaming fractions of a penny
right this band was actively mobilizing an army
of fans to physically go to retail stores which
is wild so for you listening we have a massive
stack of sources today we're looking at billboard
chart history riaa certifications uh tour manifest
from the era and critical reviews from the time.
All the raw data. Yeah, all of it. And our mission
today is to unpack exactly how a heavy metal
band in the mid -2010s managed to move units
like they were a pop act in the late 90s. It
really shouldn't have been possible. How did
they convince over 100 ,000 people to literally
open their wallets in week one? It comes down
to hitting a peak in efficiency and honestly,
just a raw connection with their audience. Yeah.
It's about understanding your customer so much
better than the industry consultants do. Okay,
so let's dive in. Got Your Six. Just the title
alone sets a very specific tone, doesn't it?
It really does. I mean, it's military shorthand.
Right. If you've seen any war movie or played
a shooter game, you know the phrase, I've got
your six, means I've got your back. Referring
to the six o 'clock position. Exactly. Directly
behind you, the blind spot where you can't see.
So it implies this deep loyalty, protection.
Like a brotherhood. Precisely. And for a band
like Five Finger Death Punch, they have always
leaned really heavily into military support.
Oh, heavily. And that sort of rugged aesthetic.
So this wasn't just a cool sounding name for
a record. It was a branding promise. A promise
to the fans. Yeah. A signal to their core demographic
that the band was still firmly in their corner.
Let's look at the actual launch. The album officially
dropped on September 4, 2015. Released by Prospect
Park. Right. But looking at the release history
and the source data here, it wasn't exactly a
straight shot to that date, was it? No. There
was a little bit of volatility, which, you know,
is common in the music business, but it always
makes fans a little nervous. For sure. Originally,
the fan base was told to mark their calendars
for August 28th. Okay. Then, back in May of that
year, they dropped the artwork and confirmed
that date, only to eventually push it back a
week. To September 4th. Right. And I guess in
the grand scheme of things, a one week delay
is nothing. It's a blip. But in the social media
era, people start whispering immediately like,
is it finished? Is there a legal issue? Right.
The rumor mill starts turning. But honestly.
When it finally did drop. A number silenced everyone.
Immediately. Any doubts were completely gone.
Let's talk about those numbers because they are
staggering. I'm looking at the Billboard 200
debut right here. It hit number two. Which, to
be fair to them, was becoming a bit of a tradition.
Yeah. Yeah, this was actually their third consecutive
album to debut at number two on that chart. They
were kind of the perennial bridesmaids of the
Billboard chart. Always huge, but always blocked
from that absolute top spot by some. massive
pop cultural event that week. Always a bridesmaid,
right. But the chart position kind of hides the
real story here. It really does. Because number
two is relative. You can be number two with 20
,000 sales if it's a slow week for releases.
Correct. The sheer volume is what we really need
to focus on. Let's hear it. In its very first
week, Got Your Six moved 119 ,000 equivalent
album units. Okay, let's pause right there. We
need to distinguish between units and sales because
2015 is right when this metric gets really confusing
for people. It is the defining transition era
for chart math. So equivalent units blends streaming
numbers with actual sales. Right. But the source
data here highlights a specific, much more impressive
number. Okay. 114 ,000. That's the pure sales.
Yes. That is the number of pure album sale. Meaning
tangible transactions. So someone actually drove
to a Best Buy and bought the physical CD, or
they logged into iTunes and paid $12 for the
digital download. Exactly. 114 ,000 individual
people paid full price for this record. Which
is crazy for 2015. That distinction is crucial.
Because in 2015, that consumer behavior was evaporating
across the board. Right. In fact, if you strip
away the streaming numbers from everyone else
on the chart that specific week, your six was
actually the number one selling album in the
country. That is just staggering. So they were
fundamentally beating the mainstream pop acts
in terms of getting people to spend hard cash.
They were. It implies a fan base that isn't just
passively listening on a generic rock playlist
while they do the dishes. No, they want to own
it. They want the physical artifact. They want
to hold it. And for the band themselves, this
was a personal best. It was. Their previous record,
The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side
of Hell, Volume 1. Long title. Very long title.
That one had moved 112 ,000 copies in its first
week. So Got Your 6 actually edged past that.
Think about how rare that trajectory is. It's
incredibly rare. Usually a rock band explodes
on their first or maybe their second album. Right,
the sophomore peak. And then they just manage
this slow, graceful decline for the next 10 years.
But these guys were six albums deep into their
career. Six albums. And they were still growing
their opening week sales. It just speaks to incredible
momentum. They clearly hadn't peaked yet. They
had spent years building this machine. 2015,
it was just firing on all cylinders. OK, so the
sales numbers were brutal in a good way. Very
good way. But let's talk about the sound of the
record itself. The sources we have categorize
this music as groove metal, alternative metal
and hard rock. A mix of those. Yes. Are you listening
who maybe hasn't heard the specific album? What
are we actually dealing with here sonically?
I would say groove metal is probably the most
accurate technical term to use. How would you
define that? Think of it as kind of the child
of thrash metal. Like early Pantera. Okay. You
take the sheer aggression and the heaviness of
thrash, but you slow the tempo down. Just enough
to give it a rhythmic bounce. A groove. Exactly,
a groove. It's music that is fundamentally designed
to make you nod your head to the beat, not just
run around in a circle pit at high speed. And
the production on this record is very specific.
It was produced by Kevin Cherko, working alongside
the band. Yes. Cherko is a massive key figure
in their entire history. He really shaped their
sound. He's honestly like the Max Martin of modern
metal. That is a great comparison. He helps them
get that incredible... incredibly polished, punchy
production style that works so flawlessly on
American rock radio. The kick drum just hits
you in the chest. Every drum hit sounds like
a literal cannon. The guitars are perfectly crisp.
It's high fidelity metal. Which, let's be honest,
some metal purists absolutely hate. Oh, without
a doubt. They say it sounds too clean, too digital.
Yes, there is a vocal segment of the underground
metal community that thinks it sounds sterile
or overproduced. But again, look at the sales.
The numbers completely argue that the silent
majority of listeners absolutely loves it. I
actually found this quote in our sources from
Jeremy Spencer, who was their drummer at the
time. Oh, what did he say? It's really illuminating
regarding their mindset going into the studio
for this one. He described the album as, quote,
More brutal with more extreme dynamics. That
word right there, dynamics, is key to this record.
Yeah, he went on to say it has really mellow
parts and then some really brutal parts and that
it runs a whole gamut of sounds. Which is vital.
It's so interesting because when people think
of Five Finger Death Punch, they usually just
think of pure, unadulterated aggression. Wall
of sound. Right. But Spencer is specifically
highlighting the contrast here. And that contrast
is exactly what allows a band to sustain a listener's
interest over an entire project. How do you mean?
Well, if it's just 100 % pure aggression for
an hour straight, it just becomes white noise.
Yet you're fatigued. It's exhausting. But if
you deliberately program in those mellow dips,
the heavy parts actually hit so much harder when
they come back. It's tension and release. Exactly.
It's the classic loud, quiet, loud dynamic, but
fully weaponized for massive arenas. Speaking
of sustaining interest, there is one statistic
about the album itself that really caught me
off guard. The runtime. The runtime. It is so
short. It is remarkably tight. The standard edition
of Got Your Six Clocks in at exactly 38 minutes
and 23 seconds. Which makes it the shortest five
-finger death punch album to date. Do you think
that was a strategic move? I do. Because right
around this time in the age of streaming, the
trend was usually to stuff an album with like
20 plus tracks just to game the algorithm and
get more total plays. The Drake model. Right.
But this is so tight. Keep in mind, in 2015,
we were just right on the cusp of that content
stuffing era taking over. So the pressure from
the labels wasn't fully there just yet. That
makes sense. But more importantly, I think for
a band playing this specific genre, brevity works
hugely in their favor. Leave them wanting more.
It's the classic all killer, no filler approach.
Just get in, punch the listener in the face with
a huge riff and get out. Pretty much. Yeah. Because
high energy groove metal is intense. Asking a
casual listener to commit to a 70 minute opus
is a really big ask. Definitely. But 38 minutes.
You can listen to the whole thing on a decent
drive home from work. Or a workout. Exactly.
You can listen to it during a single session
at the gym. It is perfectly digestible. And that
digestibility probably helped drive those repeat
listens we see in the streaming data. You aren't
checking your watch at track 14 wondering when
the album is finally going to end. Right. It
leaves you energized rather than feeling fatigued
by the end. Now, a big part of that 38 minutes
was completely dominated by singles. Oh, absolutely.
You can't have a hit album without hit songs,
and the rollout campaign for Got Your 6 just
seemed relentless. It was a masterfully structured
campaign. Prospect Park, their label. knew exactly
what they were doing here. It started way before
the album dropped, didn't it? Yeah, it started
back in June of 2015, a full three months before
the album release, with the track Jekyll and
Hyde. Which is such a massive track for them,
but honestly, it's kind of a weird song. It is
a very weird song. The verses have this strange,
almost spoken word, rhythmic... mumbling thing
that Ivan Moody does. Yeah, it's not traditionally
melodic at all during those verses. It's quirky.
Right. And then it just violently explodes into
this massive anthemic arena chorus. And clearly
it worked. That single peaked at number three
on the U .S. mainstream rock charts. Set the
stage perfectly. So primed the pump. But then
they followed it up in October just after the
album was out with Wash It All Away. And that
one went all the way to the top number one on
the U .S. Main Street rock charts. I feel like
that song is really the definitive five finger
death punch track of this specific era. I agree
with that. It's got that moody atmospheric intro,
the crushing heavy breakdown and this huge sing
along chorus. It ticks every single box for active
rock radio. So you have a top three hit and then
a number one hit. And they still didn't stop
there. No, they kept going. In February 2016,
they pushed my nemesis to radio. And then in
July 2016, which is almost a full year after
the album launched, they released... I apologize.
Which is interesting because that track was actually
featured on the deluxe edition of the album.
Oh, right. Which is another really smart sales
tactic when you think about it. Completely. You
sell everyone the standard edition in September.
And then a year later. You have these extra tracks
on the deluxe version to keep the cultural conversation
going and maybe get your super fans to double
dip and buy it again. Right. Keeping the album
relevant in the press for a full 12 months is
how you sustain those massive long -term sales
numbers. the classic radio rock model just executed
to absolute perfection. You just keep feeding
the beast. You have to. I actually want to circle
back to Jekyll and Hyde for just a second. Okay.
Because there is a detail in the physical track
listing of the album that I just love. Oh, the
hidden track. Yes. On the physical CD editions,
there's a hidden track right at the very end.
Track 15. Track 15 is listed as Jekyll and Hyde.
Voicemail. It is such a fascinating inclusion.
For anyone listening who hasn't heard it, it
is quite literally a voicemail recording, right,
Lee? What is the actual story behind that? It
peels back the curtain on their songwriting process
in a really fun way. Yeah. It is an actual literal
voicemail that the singer, Ivan Moody, left for
the guitarist, Jason Hook, at something like
three in the morning. It's not a polished demo
at all. It is just this raw, spontaneous idea.
It's literally just Ivan humming the melody and
mumbling the rhythm into his phone in the middle
of the night. And that became the lead single.
Why do you think they decided to include that
raw audio on the final retail album? Why break
the fourth wall like that? I think it accomplishes
two distinct things. One, it explicitly rewards
the superfans. People who actually went out,
bought the physical CD, and let it keep playing
in their stereo past the official end. Like a
Marvel post -credits scene. Exactly. It's a fun
Easter egg. And two, it adds this incredible
layer of personality to the band. It really humanizes
them. It makes them feel like real regular guys,
not just these untouchable rock stars standing
on a pedestal. Here is this messy, late night,
groggy voice note that eventually turned into
the massive polished hit you just heard on the
radio. It shows a sense of humor, right? And
a total lack of pretension. It basically tells
the fans, we take the music very seriously, but
we don't take ourselves too seriously. I love
that. So we have the radio hits, we have the
record -breaking sales, but rock music really...
Lives and dies on the road. Always. Let's look
at the actual personnel who are out there bringing
this album to life on stage every night. This
era was arguably their classic lineup, wouldn't
you say? For a huge portion of the fan base,
absolutely yes. So who do we have? You had Ivan
Moody handling vocals, obviously bringing that
chaotic, unpredictable frontman energy. Right.
Zoltan Bathory on rhythm guitar. He is the founder,
the martial artist, and really the core business
brain behind the band. Exactly. Then Jason Hook
on lead guitar, who brought a ton of that polished
hit making songwriting structure we talked about.
He's the secret weapon. He really is. Yeah. Then
Chris Cale on bass. He's the guy with a massive
dreadlock beard providing those heavy backing
vocals. Yep. And Jeremy Spencer holding it all
together on drums. Now, this specific five -man
unit had been working together for a few albums
by this point. They have. The chemistry on stage
must have been undeniable. They were just a completely
well -oiled machine by 2015. And to promote Got
Your Six, they didn't just book a few standard
club shows. No. They put together a massive arena
-level tour package. Looking at the routing,
they announced a co -headlining North American
tour. And the partner they chose to co -headline
with was incredibly smart. Papa Roach. Yes, Papa
Roach. That is just a staggering amount of radio
hits crammed into one single night. It's brilliant
packaging from a business perspective because
Papa Roach brings a slightly different, perhaps
more mainstream alternative rock crowd. A bit
more of that late 90s new metal nostalgia, too.
Exactly. While Death Punch brings the aggressively
heavier modern metal crowd, obviously there is
some overlap there. But combining the two really
maximizes the potential audience. It creates
a massive value proposition for the ticket buyer.
Right. You aren't just paying 50 bucks to see
one big band. You're seeing two absolute heavyweights
of the genre. And they certainly didn't skimp
on the support acts either. Not at all. They
brought out In This Moment as special guests.
Oh, wow. And they had From Ashes to New opening
the night. to provide support. See, in this moment
is huge. They create this massive theatrical
spectacle. Maria Brink has the backup dancers,
the elaborate costume changes. It's a full visual
show. It's very cinematic. And then from ashes
to new brings that high energy, modern rap rock
vibe to get the crowd moving early. That is just
a ridiculously stacked bill from top to bottom.
It fundamentally creates an event rather than
just a concert. You aren't just going out to
see a band on a Tuesday night. You are basically
going to an indoor festival in an arena. And
that drives ticket sales. Which directly feeds
right back into the physical album sales we were
talking about earlier. It is a perfectly designed
symbiotic ecosystem. Okay, so clearly the fans
absolutely loved it. The tour sales and the chart
numbers objectively prove that. But what about
the critics? The critics. Because usually...
Heavy metal bands that sell this exceptionally
well get absolutely hammered by the music press.
They do. Was Got Your 6 critical kryptonite,
or did they actually get some respect from the
media? The reaction was actually quite mixed,
but they definitely commanded respect where it
counted. What were the major outlets saying?
Well, you had the usual hard rock and metal sites,
places like Metal Hammer and Ultimate Guitar.
Sure. And all music gave a very fair, solid coverage.
But the review that really stands out came from
a surprising place. Where was that? The Guardian.
The major UK newspaper. The very same. That seems
really highbrow for a band that essentially sings
about smashing things and drinking. It is. It's
very highbrow. But The Guardian actually reviewed
the record and explicitly described the album
as focused and ferocious. Focused and ferocious.
I mean, that is just a fantastic pull quote for
a tour poster. It's perfect. And it validates
that the strategic brevity of the album and the
high -end production quality were actually working
on a critical level. Even for the snobs. Right.
Even if the critic writing the piece isn't personally
wearing a camo vest and a mosh pit, they had
to objectively admit that the execution of the
music was incredibly tight. Were there any end
-of -year lists? Yes. Rock Sound actually included
it in their top 50 releases of 2015. Nice. They
placed it right at number 44. So they weren't
just being completely dismissed by the media
as dumb rock? Not entirely, no. Their sheer cultural
footprint meant they were just too big to ignore.
And this wasn't just an isolated American phenomenon
either. We spent a lot of time talking about
the Billboard 200 here in the States, but looking
at the international charts in our notes, this
thing truly went global. It really did. It was
a worldwide moment. The album hit the top 10
in a surprisingly long list of countries. Let's
hear them. It hit the top 10 in Australia, Austria,
Canada, Finland, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland,
and the UK. Top 10 in Finland and Sweden. Those
are Scandinavian markets with notoriously high
standards for heavy metal. They are the gatekeepers
of metal. Yeah. And Germany too. Yelly. Yes.
Germany is arguably the second most important
market for heavy music in the entire world. Because
of the massive festivals. Exactly. They host
Wacken Open Air. They take their metal incredibly
seriously over there. And how did it do in Germany?
It debuted at number five. Wow. For an American
groove metal band to crack the top five in Germany,
it just unequivocally shows that their underlying
sound translates seamlessly across borders. It
totally challenges the prevailing stereotype
that Five Finger Death Punch is just this hyper
niche red state American band. Exactly. Because
the universal language of a really heavy guitar
riff and a massive catchy chorus works in Berlin
just as well as it works in Ohio. That's a great
point. So let's talk about the long tail of this
specific album. We obviously saw the massive
first week explosion in September 2015. Right.
But did it just fade away into obscurity after
that tour cycle ended? Not at all. The global
certifications really tell the true story of
its longevity. What did it? Over the years, it
eventually went gold in Canada, Denmark, Germany,
and New Zealand. Consistent global sales. Yep.
It also achieved silver certification in the
UK. And what about back home in the U .S.? Because
hitting platinum here is the holy grail for a
rock band. This is the really big milestone.
It was indeed eventually certified platinum by
the RIAA. meaning one million equivalent units
sold. But look at the specific date of that certification
in our notes. Right. January 19, 2024. 2024.
That is nearly nine full years after its initial
release. It is a massive gap. That is just fascinating
to me. So it just kept steadily selling, kept
racking up streams and kept moving units quietly
in the background for almost a decade to finally
hit that one million mark. It completely proves
that Got Your 6 wasn't just some flash -in -the
-pan flavor of the month. Right. It actually
became a catalog staple. It means that brand
new fans who were just discovering the band in,
say, 2020 or 2023 were still actively going back
and consuming this specific record from start
to finish. It's almost like it became a foundational
text for the mainstream metal genre of that specific
decade. If you like modern metal at all, you
are inevitably going to end up listening to Wash
It All Away. Exactly. The strength of those massive
singles has kept the album alive on rock radio
playlists for years, which continuously drives
new people back to the full album. Right. It's
a very slow burn, but an incredibly profitable
one for the band. So bringing this all together
into a final picture. Okay. We have the band's
shortest overall album, resulting in their absolute
best sales week ever. Yep. Followed by massive,
undeniable international success, and culminating
in a platinum certification nine years down the
road. What do you think is the singular big takeaway
from all this data? I think Got Your 6 represents
the exact moment that five -finger death punch
truly perfected their commercial efficiency.
Efficiency is a good word for it. They confidently
trimmed all the fat, literally, with a sub -40
-minute runtime. Right. And they focused entirely
on delivering maximum sonic impact. They perfectly
balanced their brutal elements with the highly
melodic hooks in a way that maximized their overall
mainstream audience, but crucially, without completely
alienating their core day one metal fan base.
Which is a very hard tightrope to walk. It's
almost impossible. It is essentially a masterclass
in knowing exactly who you are as artists and
delivering precisely what your specific audience
wants, completely regardless of what the industry
trendsetters are saying you should be doing.
Which brings me right back to that title, Got
Your Six. The initial promise they made. Right.
They explicitly promised the fans a heavy -hitting,
uncompromising record. They said, we've got your
back, and they unapologetically delivered it.
They absolutely did. But here is the provocative
thought I want to leave you listening with today.
Let's hear it. When you look at those pure sales
numbers we talked about, 114 ,000 individual
people physically buying an album in a single
week in 2015. A time when they could have just
easily pirated it for free. Exactly. It really
raises an interesting question about the dynamic
relationship between these bands and their fans.
It's highly reciprocal. Right. Did the massive
commercial success of this record fundamentally
prove that in an era where music... was increasingly
becoming completely free and disposable, the
core fans were actively proving that they had
the band's back just as much as the band had
theirs. Oh, that's a great way to look at it.
It's a level of genuine loyalty. actual monetary
loyalty that you just don't see every day in
the modern music business. It's a powerful validation
of that bond between artist and listener. It
essentially proves that if you consistently serve
and respect your community, they will sustain
your career, even when the entire industry format
changes around you. Absolutely. Well, if you
haven't spun this one in a while, maybe go back
and check out some of the deep cuts. Hell to
Pay is an absolute banger. Digging My Own Grave
is incredibly heavy. And definitely see if you
can track down that voicemail. hidden track on
the physical copy it's well worth a listen just
for the laugh it really is thanks for diving
deep into the numbers with us today keep listening
everyone