Five Finger Death Punch released American Capitalist in the United States on October 11, 2011. Their third studio album followed a short break from touring behind War Is the Answer. Drummer Jeremy Spencer recalled having about a month off before writing and recording resumed, with his first drum track recorded in February.
The band’s working arrangement made it easy to keep songs moving. Guitarists Jason Hook and Zoltan Bathory lived within five minutes of Spencer in Las Vegas, and all three had home studios. Hook told Icon Vs. Icon that they developed ideas separately before meeting three or four times a week to work through them together. Once they agreed on a track, they emailed it to singer Ivan Moody, who preferred some time alone with the music and sometimes wrote lyrics through the night. Disagreements within the group could be settled by a vote.
For Hook, those sessions often began with coffee and an acoustic guitar before anyone else was awake. He recorded freely, returned to the material later and developed the passages that caught his attention. Afternoon meetings at Spencer’s house gave those ideas a group setting, with an electronic drum kit allowing them to work at a manageable volume. “We write at home so we can be left alone,” Hook told Guitar World. Eventually, he switched some morning sessions to electric guitar because too many acoustic ideas needed adapting when the band worked on them.
The two guitarists also understood where their strengths fitted. Bathory told MusicRadar that Hook handled the elaborate lead playing, while his own contributions included smaller melodic figures tucked into the rhythms. Bathory’s heavy strings and baritone guitar supported the forceful rhythm parts he preferred. He saw little reason to compete with Hook for attention when they could divide the work around what each player did best.
Recording followed a similarly practical division of duties. When several songs were ready, the band went to producer Kevin Churko to record the final drum parts. Hook and Bathory tracked guitars in their own studios, leaving Churko to concentrate on Moody and the arrangements. Returning after War Is the Answer, Churko also played every bass part on American Capitalist. Spencer told the interview outlet then known as PureGrainAudio that Chris Kael joined after the bass recording was complete. Kael had contacted Hook through Facebook, secured an audition and become the band’s new bassist.
“Under and Over It” put that collaborative process into the lyrics. Hook told Loudwire that Moody wrote the song in response to anonymous online attacks. The band then reconsidered an initially more explicit refrain and arrived at wording that also reflected the pressure of their workload. Choosing it as the first single established the album’s aggressive side immediately, even though Hook said they were unsure how readily radio would accept it.
The video extended the joke. Directed by Ethan Emaniquis, it exaggerated familiar rock-video excesses through cars, a mansion, a plane and a pool party. Bathory explained that the director’s appearances inside the scenes were part of the conceit: viewers could watch someone trying to manufacture the band’s image while the band made fun of the process.
American Capitalist entered the Billboard 200 at No. 3 with 91,000 copies sold in its first U.S. week. That was more than twice the 44,000-copy opening of War Is the Answer, which had debuted at No. 7.
