On Saturday, 1st November, Ivan Moody and Zoltan Bathory of global multi platinum hard rock power house, Five Finger Death Punch, joined Japanese metal sensation Babymetal at their sold out Intuit Dome show in Los Angeles, California to celebrate a major international milestone as their collaborative single ‘The End’ reached #1 on the Japanese iTunes Metal Chart and climbed to #18 on the Japanese All-Genres Chart – A landmark achievement for an international rock release. In addition to its success in Japan, the track is making history in the United States as the first song featuring Japanese lyrics to chart at U.S. Rock radio, where it has already broken into the top #5. The artists came together for a special presentation to honour this cross-cultural breakthrough and the worldwide momentum behind
Zoltan Bathory said: “This was such an amazing way to celebrate a collaboration that turned into a chart-topping moment for both of us. We’re working on our 10th studio album right now, and with the 20th-anniversary World tour coming up, we were already planning to go back to Japan… a place that’s always shown us so much love. But with how well this song connected there, let’s just say the story might not be over yet. Who knows… maybe we’ll even share a stage with Babymetal. Life’s a wild chain of coincidences, and sometimes the next chapter just writes itself.”
Babymetal vocalist Su-Metal said: “We were invited to take part in a 20th-anniversary collaboration project featuring guest artists on past songs. Five Finger Death Punch and Babymetal had performed at the same festival overseas back in 2015, so I was really happy thinking they might have remembered me from then. I sang Japanese lyrics inspired by the original lyrics of ‘The End’, and spent a lot of time experimenting to find the voice that best fit such a deep, cool track. My favorite moment is the flow from ‘Negai o kakete’ into the break, where my voice is gradually engulfed by Ivan’s growl – It gave me chills. I hope listeners feel that too.”
Five Finger Death Punch continued to mark their 20th anniversary with the release of a companion to their previous greatest hits collection with Best Of – Volume 2, now available through Better Noise Music.
Both Volume 1 and Volume 2 feature newly rerecorded versions of the band’s biggest anthems, created in response to their former label’s sale of the original song masters – made without the band’s knowledge or the opportunity to reclaim their legacy.
Turning that setback into something powerful and positive, the band chose not to simply remix or remaster but to fully rerecord fan favourites across two volumes of greatest hits – both as a tribute to the songs and to the fans who’ve stood with the band over the last two decades.
The first single from Best Of – Volume 2 was the 2025 version of ‘The End’ featuring Babymetal. Vocalist Su-Metal reflected: “
Best Of – Volume 2 is released worldwide in multiple formats, including standard CD and vinyl, a limited edition CD exclusive to Walmart, multiple collectible vinyl editions available at Best Buy, Walmart, the Five Finger Death Punch webstore, indie retail, and a Revolver Magazine exclusive.
Tracks featured on Best Of – Volume 2 are 2025 versions of ‘Hell To Pay’, ‘The End (featuring Babymetal)’, ‘M.I.N.E (End This Way)’, ‘Hard To See’, ‘Got Your Six)’, ‘Cold)’, ‘Burn MF’, ‘Never Enough’, Sham Pain’, ‘Blue On Black’, ‘I Apologize’, ‘Trouble’, When The Seasons Change’, ‘Cradle To The Grave’, ‘ My Nemesis’, ‘Walk Away’ and live versions of ‘Wash It All Away’, ‘Wrong Side Of Heaven’ and ‘Jekyll And Hyde’ – It is available , with CD and vinyl editions available here.
To commemorate the band’s 20th anniversary, a special merchandise collection is also available now here.
See RAMzine for more information regarding Best Of – Volume 1. Among the tracks, fan favourite, ‘I Refuse’ was always meant to be a single. A eimagined, rerecorded version now featuring guest vocals from Maria Brink of In This Moment was released as a single.
