Five Finger Death Punch’s Zoltan Bathory on Metallica tour, ‘Call of Duty’ character, jiu jitsu brotherhood

When Five Finger Death Punch played their first-ever shows with Metallica in Europe last summer, Lars Ulrich wondered how the bands — two of heaviest music’s biggest — had never managed to cross paths.

They all joked at the time that they should catch up again sooner than later, but plans for their much-anticipated reunion went awry. While Metallica invited the band out to play more shows together last spring, Five Finger Death Punch had to pull out when vocalist Ivan Moody underwent hernia surgery — the frontman is thankfully back in action with the rest of this band. Following a painful delay, Five Finger Death Punch finally get back onstage with Metallica on August 6th at East Rutherford, New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, marking the first of many concerts they’ll play together between now and the summer of 2024.

“>Outside of that unfortunate surgery, Five Finger Death Punch have led a pretty charmed career. Since blasting out the gates with their groove-heavy “The Bleeding” single in 2007, the Las Vegas quintet have become one of metal’s most consistently popular acts, racking up acclaim across countless tours, a series of platinum and gold albums, and an impressive 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts.

Over the years, they’ve developed a diehard fanbase of metalheads and military personnel, uniting those fronts through troop-supporting anthems like “The Wrong Side of Heaven.” While all of this has made the long-running outfit a major headliner in their own right, when Metallica came calling, Five Finger Death Punch gladly let their hosts take the lead.

We generally don’t open anymore, but this is Metallica,” Bathory states humbly of the honor of being brought out on tour with the thrash icons. He adds of the magnitude of the bill: “It’s not like Metallica needed our help in any shape or any way… but it’s an extremely impactful package. It’s incredible.

This summer is likewise a remarkable one for Bathory, in that he’s just become a playable character named Oz (or, “Zo” backwards) in the latest updates for both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Warzone. The metal guitarist reveals his inclusion in the military-minded first-person-shooter was, fittingly, a top-secret project. There’s no mistaking that’s him in the game, though, between the famously askew dreads and a nod to his jiu jitsu black belt.As Five Finger Death Punch prepare to blast the masses alongside Metallica, Bathory recalls cranking Master of Puppets on Hungarian beaches, video game gag orders, and the heavy metal/martial arts crossover he’s come across in the jiu jitsu scene.

How well did you hit it off with Metallica when you first ran into them on the festival circuit last year?

We played two shows with them last year. As a kid, I met them at a show [during] one of those meet-and-greets, but this was the first time meeting them as an adult.

We were talking to Lars and he was joking around like man, “How is it that we’ve never crossed paths?” It’s two pretty significantly big bands, right? We were laughing about it… and then a couple of months later we got a phone call [about touring together] like, “Hey this is a possibility. If you guys want to do these dates, it’s going to be massive.”

Who’s going to say “Ah, I don’t know man?” [Laughs] You [don’t have to] twist my arm.