Missing Five Finger Death Punch Guitarist Found

Call off the search hounds! Five Finger Death Punch have found their guitarist Zoltan Bathory. On Sept. 21, Noisecreep reported that the Las Vegas-by-way-of-Los Angeles metallers Five Finger Death Punch had contacted authorities in Vegas about Bathory, and that they had reported him missing.

Bathory, the band claimed, went missing after the band's gig Sept. 18 in Las Vegas. And in the subsequent days, the guitarist stopped responding "to calls, text messages or emails, and he was last seen around Friday night at Wasted Space in the Hard Rock Casino, taking tequila shots at the bar with a group of guys from a bachelor party who came to the show."

Five Finger Death Punch asked that anyone with any information regarding Bathory's whereabouts contact them, because "this is not like him, and the band needs to prepare for the upcoming tour [with Shadows Fall, Otep and 2 Cents]. We have already notified the appropriate authorities, but any help Vegas fans might be able to provide is very much appreciated." Several sites responded almost immediately to the report with skepticism. After all, 5FDP's new album, 'War is the Answer,' lands in stores today.

Late last night, the band revealed that Zoltan had been "found," and that "we just talked to him and although he sounded somewhat incoherent, he says he'll be fine and the tour will start as planned tomorrow! Sorry if he worried anyone!"

The band didn't provide any further information about Zoltan's disappearing act, but according to Blabbermouth, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department apparently have no record of Bathory ever having been reported missing.

We're not ones to speculate or assume, so we'll ask you: Does this story sound fishy? Do you think Bathory was actually missing, or just passed out somewhere? Or was Zoltan's being MIA nothing more than a publicity stunt to drum up extra business for the band's new album? Let us know in the comments section below, because we'd love to get your opinion.