Five Finger Death Punch Rerecords Hits Following Catalog Sale

A 2017 performance from Five Finger Death Punch. Photo Credit: Sven Mandel

What do Five Finger Death Punch (FFDP) and Taylor Swift have in common? At least one thing: both have rerecorded releases following the sale of their original masters.

The Vegas-based heavy metal group set that process in motion months ago, and the rerecording undertaking just recently entered the media spotlight. As we’ve noted, the catalog arena’s rapid-fire dealmaking means certain investments fly under the radar – with other plays failing to receive any sort of public announcement.

Evidently, the song-rights selloff of Prospect Park falls into the latter category. Beginning with a 2007 debut and ending with 2018’s And Justice for None, Five Finger Death Punch released seven studio albums via the Jeff Kwatinetz-founded label.

As laid out by the LA Times, the band had a “frequently contentious” professional relationship with Kwatinetz, and the disagreements fueled litigation. Unsurprisingly, then, Prospect Park reportedly sold its 50% stake in the mentioned albums’ masters to Spirit Music without telling the group.

(DMN contacted Spirit for comment but didn’t immediately receive a response. However, it seems safe to assume that the company is far from thrilled about the chain of events.)

Needless to say, the “unexpected” transaction didn’t sit right with FFDP, which responded by pulling a Taylor.

Unlike Swift’s album-by-album approach – which, of course, culminated with her buying back the initial masters – Five Finger Death Punch is dropping the rerecordings via greatest-hits compilations.

The first of the efforts, commemorating the band’s 20th anniversary and including “Wrong Side of Heaven” as well as “Bad Company,” is already live – with a follow-up on the way, per FFDP founder and guitarist Zoltan Bathory.

Similarly to the “Taylor’s Version” releases, the newer recordings (17 overall, albeit with a few live renditions) are differentiated by “2025 VERSION” clarifiers in their actual titles.

(Apparently, some FFDP diehards aren’t so excited about the metal act’s being linked to Swift – even if the connection begins and ends with the rerecordings. “[H]ere it is spelled out – Taylor Swift’s Label sold her masters recordings – so she de recorded them and beat the label to the punch – so when our masters were sold – We did the same 🤷‍♂️ that’s all there is to it – that’s the only connection,” Bathory clarified on Instagram.)

Time will tell whether different artists opt to dive into the rerecording process – which, for obvious reasons, isn’t sitting right with labels. Though Swift wasn’t the first artist to strategically recapture past releases in the studio, the high-profile maneuver reportedly prompted UMG to retool its contract terms so as to close the loophole.

Nevertheless, said loophole hasn’t been nixed industry-wide, the Five Finger Death Punch episode illustrates. FFDP has also dropped (already-sold-out) physical versions of the compilation, and per the Times, the Better Noise-signed band has completed six songs for an upcoming 10th studio album.