War Is The Answer

War Is the Answer is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. It was released on September 22, 2009 through Prospect Park Records and debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 selling approximately 44,000 copies in its first week. Metal Hammer magazine named it the 16th best album of 2009.

War Is the Answer was announced as Five Finger Death Punch’s second studio album in May 2009. The album was produced by Kevin Churko, who had previously produced Ozzy Osbourne’s Black Rain, and mixed by Randy Staub, who has previously worked with Metallica and Stone Sour. Guitarist Zoltan Bathory commented on the style of the album, stating “we’ve continued the journey we started on the first album, so there’s a healthy balance of melody and aggression, and as always we concentrated on writing strong metal songs in the traditional sense.”

Although War Is the Answer was originally announced to be released on June 8, 2009, it was pushed back to October 6, 2009, then pulled forward to September 22, 2009. On August 10, 2009, they announced the first leg of their Shock and Raw Tour, which will promote the new album. The second leg was announced on August 17, 2009.

Bathory told Metal Hammer about the album title:
“ It’s a phrase we’ve had up our sleeves for some time, and I’ve been talking about it a lot in interviews. In fact, somebody just asked me: ‘If war is the answer, then what is the question?’, and I guess the answer to that is “the meaning of life” ! Because life IS war. Basically, you’re fighting against one thing or another right from the start – you’re fighting for survival with pretty much everything against you, you’re fighting for social or political positions.