Five Finger Death Punch frontman Ivan Moody says he’s “retiring from heavy metal” after his band records one more album. The singer made the announcement from the stage during FFDP’s concert at Ball Arena in Denver on Friday (October 14th).
The vocalist chose his birthplace of Denver to let fans know that he’s hanging up his metal gloves. Flanked by two of his children, Moody began, “I wanted to tell you this. And nobody else in the world knows, Denver, so this is where it’s going to start. And what you do with it is up to you. The last 15 years of my life I have toured the world, I have seen every country, every city on this planet at least twice. That’s a fact. And through that time, as many of you parents know… I have missed a lot of time with my kiddos.”
He continued, “So I made them a deal today, and I’m going to stick to it. After this year, I am going to make one more Five Finger Death Punch album and then I am retiring from heavy metal.”
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Moody concluded: “But I wanted to start that here and tell all of you, from day one when I decided to be a singer playing places like … the Bluebird Theater, the Ogden, and we were supposed to play Red Rocks, we’ll have to do that one more time. Can I play Red Rocks one more time? … I owe you everything, Colorado, Five Finger Death Punch, and every knucklehead on this planet, thank you.”
It should be noted that Moody specifically said he’s “retiring from heavy metal,” perhaps leaving the door open to pursuing other genres of music. Five Finger Death Punch released their latest album, Afterlife, in August, which means they have an entire touring cycle ahead of them. And it can be assumed that they will tour in support of their next album (presumably Moody’s last), so it might be a good three or four years before the singer steps away from metal.
As for the future of the band, Moody has been the face of the group since 2006, but they have had other vocalists step in during his various absences, including All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte and former Bad Wolves singer Tommy Vext. In the past few years, FFDP have replaced longtime members Jason Hook (guitars) and Jeremy Spencer (drums), signaling they can endure significant lineup changes.
For now, fans can catch Five Finger Death Punch on their current co-headlining tour with country star Brantley Gilbert. The outing runs through a December 17th show in Las Vegas, with tickets available via Ticketmaster.
See Ivan Moody address the Denver crowd about his retirement from metal in the video clip below.