wrote the majority of the lyrics, which are about personal strifes and how people overcome them. Much of the lyrical content was influenced by the Book of Revelation, natural disasters, war, and terrorism. Cazares stated the album is a "big fuck you" to the people who want his projects to fail. Released on August 28, 2007, in the United States, Bleed the Fifth sold 2,700 copies in its first week. Dom Lawson of Metal Hammer summarized his review by saying "All in all, the portly pioneer has hit the bull's-eye and it's going to be fascinating to see what happens next", awarding an 8 out of a possible 10. Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic felt the album "strikes a near-perfect balance between confirmation (reminding fans of Cazares' abilities and unique vision) and innovation (he even plays a few guitar solos!)". Scott Alisoglu of Blabbermouth.net summarized his review claiming the album is "one tough son of a bitch that may still have you humming melodies long after you've ejected the disc." Chad Bowar of About.com commented "Great musicianship, good songs and excellent production make this a very respectable debut." After recording was completed, Cazares announced the band signed a North American deal with Century Media Records, and a licensing deal with Roadrunner Records in Europe. His decision to choose Century Media was based on the creative freedom the label gave him, whereas Roadrunner would ask him to produce radio and commercial songs when he was in Fear Factory. However, Yeung claims Roadrunner were not interested and said he did not want to be on a label that is "sort of interested". Departure of Tommy Vext (2008) Lead singer Tommy Vext left the band following an on-stage altercation on April 26, 2008. Cause of the altercation remains controversial. According to Dino Cazares, Vext was fired because of a conflict during a live show. "We felt that he wanted to end the show early to go hang out at the New England Metal Fest, which we were supposed to be performing at the next day" coming up with all sorts of excuses to make this happen. The band continued to play after what Vext said was supposed to be the last song. Vext then began screaming at Dino and argued with him before he pushed Dino across the stage. Vext was kicked out of the band immediately. In a video interview Vext explained that