By Greg Pratt

When we catch up with FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Jason Hook, he’s in Boston, on a stop on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tour (which also features KORN, ROB ZOMBIE, LAMB OF GOD, NORMA JEAN, HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL, CHIMAIRA and others). He’s “heading down to catering with my motocross bike” but still finds some time to chat about what’s new with the Los Angeles band, mainly their most recent album, War Is The Answer.

Hook (a Toronto native who joined Five Finger Death Punch early last year and has previously played with VINCE NEIL, ALICE COOPER, BULLETBOYS, KILLER DWARFS, and, we shit you not, HILARY DUFF) says the band felt pressure going in to record this all-important second album (which followed up 2007’s The Way Of The Fist), especially considering the guys were experiencing a lot of clock-watching from other people involved. But, the band didn’t let that get to them and still put out the record they wanted to put out.

“Sure, look... Records are forever, so we didn’t let anything slide that we weren’t happy with,” he says. “Personally, I found it a bit stressful because everyone around us wanted it done fast. Good art shouldn’t be rushed.”

Although the album – which falls somewhere between radio-ready modern metal and more aggressive nu-metal – has done well (it debuted at number seven on the Billboard Top 200 chart) and the band is now reaping the rewards by getting out on big tours like the Mayhem tour, Hook and his boys aren’t really noticing any changes in their lives.

“You know, I think we feel a little disconnected from the record’s success,” he says. “I see numbers and meet people that really like the record but for the five of us life still seems to be the same. I do know that we worked hard on it and when it was done we were really proud of it.”

And while War Is The Answer borders on a style of metal this scribe in particular doesn’t spend too much time grooving on, I must admit the songwriting is pretty top-notch. Songs like 'No One Gets Left Behind' and 'Crossing Over' have hooks, memorable choruses, and a Black Album-era METALLICA vibe that, hey, love it or lump it, makes for a good headbang.

“Yes, I want to be set apart,” is Hook’s to-the-point reply when I ask if he feels their songwriting is what keeps them different from the nu crew. “Familiar is boring; unique is Olympic. I don’t really pay attention to titles. For me, it’s a broad approach – it’s a good song or it’s a shit song. That’s it. I don’t care what category other people need to put it in.”

Alright, so forget categories, but let’s talk decades. In a way, Five Finger Death Punch traverse many on War Is The Answer. They go from ‘00’s nu to ‘90’s Metallica and all the way back to ‘80’s hard rock. Yeah, ‘80’s hard rock. There’s something about the atmosphere and, mainly, the guitar work on some of these songs that just bring that decade to mind – we can probably trace this back to Hook’s aforementioned work with legendary long-hair-loving rocker types.

“Ah yes, the '80s!” says Hook. “The only other genre that had songs on the radio with big guitar hero solos. Maybe that’s it – guitar solos are back (laughs).”