Slaughter to Prevail is a Russian deathcore act. The band started out with UK based Jack Simmons reaching out to Alex Shikolai (aka Alex Terrible), who was gaining a lot of traction online thanks to his vocal covers, and starting a new band. Alex started out in the band We Are Obscurity, but that band fell apart due to the inability to attract a label. Alex and Simmons started Slaughter to Prevail and released the EP Chapters of Misery and the songs “Hell” and “Misery” quickly went viral, which prompted Sumerian to sign them. Since then they have released several singles, a full album titled Misery Sermon and have toured America, Russia, and Asia. At time of writing this page they have a new album called KOSTOLOM that has been competed and released worldwide, and when the time allows they’ll be touring as soon as they can. In 2022, the band relocated to Orlando, Florida following their public protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Slaughter to Prevail is notable for being one of the few deathcore bands in a post-Myspace world to gain a significant following. This is thanks to Alex Terrible going viral several times thanks to his vocal covers (including Stressed Out) and being something of a small celebrity in his native Russia. Also helping is Jack Simmon’s business sense, and writing songs that instantly go viral and find themselves on any heavy metal playlist on Spotify or Youtube.
Current members:
- Jack Simmons (guitars, also Hollow Prophet)
- Alex Terrible (vocals, ex-We Are Obscurity)
- Mikhal “Mike” Petrov (bass, also My Autumn)
- Evgeny Novikov (drums)
Notable live members:
- Robert Brown (guitars, ex-So This is Suffering)
- Dmitry Mamedov (guitars, also We Are Obscurity)
Discography (full lengths in bold):
- Crown & Conquered (single, 2014)
- Chapters of Misery (EP, 2015)
- As the Vultures Circle (single, 2016)
- Misery Sermon (LP, 2017)
- Agony (single, 2019)
- Demolisher (single, 2020)
- Baba Yaga (single, 2021)
- Kostolom (album, 2021)
- 1984 (single, 2022)
- Live in Moscow (live album, 2023)
- "Viking" (single, 2023)
- "CONFLICT" (single, 2024)
AND EACH OF US WILL GO THROUGH THE AGONY! AND EACH OF US WILL GO THROUGH THE TROPES!
- Audience Participation Song: “DE-MO-LISHER!” for, well, Demolisher, "EACH OF US WILL GO THROUGH THE PAIN, THROUGH THE FUCKING AGONY!" for "Agony", and "BLOOD WE DRUNK! FLESH WE ATE!" for "Baba Yaga".
- Berserk Button: Ripping off the Kid of Darkness mask is a good way to piss off Alex.
- Bilingual Bonus: Songs are done in both Russian and English.
- Captain Ersatz: Take a good look at Alex when he was young.
With his long hair and tattoos, he calls to mind being the Russian version of Mitch Lucker. - The Cameo: Alex appeared in Ingested’s “Dead Seraphic Forms” video, showing off his rather impressive nerd cave.
- Cool Mask: The Kid of Darkness mask that all the members wear live. Perhaps, it’s the source of Alex’s vocals…
- Cover Version: How Alex got his start. He uploaded death metal versions of metal (and non metal) songs and many of them get over a million hits on Youtube.
- Deathcore: One of the biggest acts in the genre to form past the Myspace era. They started out firmly rooted in brutal deathcore, with a sound reminiscent of Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, I Declare War, and Oceano, but turned towards nu metal on Kostolom without completely giving up brutal deathcore.
- Gangbangers: They have deliberately courted a gopniki aesthetic circa Kostolom.
- Harsh Vocals: Alex is very well known for his distinctive bear-like growls.
- Husky Russkie: The majority of the band hails from Russia (Jack Simmons and Robert Brown don't count) and often utilize Russian lyrics in their songs.
- Iconic Outfit: They wouldn't be proper Slavs if they weren't rocking the Adidas tracksuits in combination with the Kid of Darkness mask.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: Not quite as bad as other bands, but Alex can be hard to understand. Not helping is some songs being in Russian.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Alex when he was younger. Since then he cut his hair short, and picked up a ton of muscle to make up for it.
- Metal Band Mascot: The Kid Of Darkness mask. It has appeared on all of their album covers, on merch, and you can even buy your own Kid of Darkness mask!
- Metal Scream: Alex is well known for his extremely deep, monstrous Type 2 growls. He also uses Type 1s every now and then to back up his main growls as well as an occasional Type 3, as demonstrated in "Hell" and "Demolisher".
- Misanthrope Supreme: A lot of their lyrics.
- Mother Russia Makes You Strong: The music video for "Baba Yaga" has the band drive an old Soviet tank and Alex Terrible sort-of wrestle a bear.
- Nu Metal: Nu metal was among the music that Alex listened to when he was growing up, and Slipknot in particular was a big inspiration to him, but their influence on the band's work did not show until the release of Kostolom. Although deathcore was still prominent, it leans heavily on nu metal and at times resembles the sound of Slipknot's earlier albums. Kostolom introduces clean vocals ("Baba Yaga", "Your Only", "I Killed a Man") and some melodic instrumentation to STP's music. In an interview with Revolver Alex admitted that he's tired of deathcore and wants to record a third album in a different style, implying that the band would move towards nu metal and develop the sound of Kostolom further.
- The Quiet One: Alex, Jack, and Evengy are all active on social media, Mike on the other hand is pretty quiet and keeps to himself.
- Persona Non Grata: Due to factors outside the band's control, they have a hard time getting visas for American tours. In 2017 they missed out on several different tours with Summer Slaughter, Oceano, and Suicide Silence due to a visa freeze. Thankfully they were able to get that cleared up during 2018 and 2019. In 2021, Alex said in an Instagram story that he has no idea when or if the band will be able to tour the states again due to all American embassies in Russia being shut down due to "political reasons." They've also been unable to tour Europe for different reasons, see the Trivia tab for more on that. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine wound up being the last straw, and the band went on to flee the country and moved to the US.
- Protest Song: Much like with other important Russian music acts, they too have openly protested the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the song "1984". In it, the band explicitly calls Ukrainians as brothers and refers to Vladimir Putin as a backstabber, and also dub his regime as "1984 in real life".
- Rugged Scar: Invoked with Alex's hook-shaped scar on the left side of his face, which he self-inflicted for the Rule of Cool according to him.
- Shout-Out: The lines "Let the blade do the talking, so my tongue shall become iron" and "You only understand the language of the sword" from "Viking" are apparently quotes from Heilung's "Krigsgaldr", a song that has very similar themes.
- Soprano and Gravel: Alex uses cleans in the chorus for "Baba Yaga".
- Special Guest: Robert Brown was a live fill in whenever the band toured the states. While not an official member, he and Alex are on good terms and even keeps the Slaughter to Prevail tag on his Instagram bio.
