No One Gets Left Behind

Writing and recording

War Is the Answer was announced as Five Finger Death Punch's second studio album in May 2009. Kevin Churko, who had previously produced Ozzy Osbourne's Black Rain, produced the album, and Randy Staub, who had worked with Metallica, Nickelback, and Stone Sour, mixed it. Guitarist Zoltan Bathory described the album's style as continuing the journey from the first album, with a balance of melody and aggression, focusing on writing strong metal songs in the traditional sense. Bathory told Metal Hammer that the title phrase had been considered for some time, and he connected it to the idea of fighting for survival from the start, with the record covering both deeper and shallower meanings.

Singles

Six singles were released from the album: "Hard to See", "Walk Away", "Dying Breed", "No One Gets Left Behind", "Bad Company", and "Far from Home". "No One Gets Left Behind" was released on March 8, 2010, exclusively in the UK. The preceding UK-exclusive single was "Dying Breed", released on November 16, 2009. "Hard to See" began receiving radio play on July 13, 2009, and is a playable track in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. "Walk Away" was released on November 2, 2009, and appeared in Tap Tap Revenge 3 and was used as the theme song for TNA's 2010 PPV Lockdown.

Release

War Is the Answer was originally announced for release on June 8, 2009, then postponed to October 6, 2009, before being brought forward to September 22, 2009. The first leg of the Shock and Raw Tour was announced on August 10, 2009, and the second leg on August 17, 2009. "Bad Company" was originally only played live; a friend of Jeremy's suggested the band record it for the album.

It was initially intended as a bonus track but made the standard edition and became one of the band's biggest songs. The bonus tracks "Succubus" and "Undone" were originally cut from The Way of the Fist; a demo of "Succubus" leaked as "Hate Me". Jeremy Spencer was drunk while editing "Succubus" and forgot to save the original edit.