Strength Harnessed with Slaughter to Prevail’s Anticipated Album 'Grizzly'

Globally dominating the world of modern metal, Russian deathcore band Slaughter To Prevail has released their fourth album, "Grizzly"—and it's monstrous. Over the last few years, Slaughter To Prevail has risen to become one of the most popular extreme metal bands, boasting over one million Spotify listeners, headlining stages and festivals, and a record-breaking Wall of Death last year at HELLFEST OPEN AIR. A band of demon-masked musicians led by Alex Terrible, a vocalist who spends his off-stage time fighting bears in Siberia and is a fighter in Russia's Bare Knuckle Fighting ring, a savage sport of violence and fighting spirit. "Grizzly" is the culmination of the band and its members; inside and outside the music, Slaughter to Prevail is aggressively taking over. The album is hostile, it experiments, and it embraces the hardships we encounter and uses them as strengths.

The starter track, "Banditos," puts us into the violence immediately. There isn't a breath to catch with these guys—and you have to love it. Fast riffing and drumming with rising electronics crescendo into Alex's monstrous bellowing; it becomes an almost Nu-Deathcore catchy main riff. The chorus is a ground pounder. Ending with a Spanish-spoken outro of mariachis and trumpets before sending you back into the mosh pit. Guitarist/co-founder Jack Simmons has been one of the driving forces in the band, forming the band alongside Alex since 2014, and his guitar techniques and creativity are remarkable alongsideguitarist Dmitry Mamedov. The crisp pinch harmonics have been a favorite of mine and are as distinguishable and recognizable as the ones Zakk Wylde (Ozzy/Pantera/Black Label Society) is known for.

"Russian Grizzly in America" sounds like it belongs as a soundtrack to the popular FPS demon-slaying video game DOOM. The guitar tone is menacing, and drummer Evgeny Novikov is a machine gun on cyclic. Alex Terrible is known for his vocal extremities and versatility, and here he makes a debut of what sounds like an alligator from Hell. Coined as the "Alligator Growl", Alex is just pulling demons from the other side and harnessing them into himself. Accompanied by the track is a comedic music video featuring UFC Heavyweight Fighter Alexander Volkov, showing the band's adventures of befriending a grizzly bear through California's streets and beaches and even attending a Slaughter To Prevail show.

"It's A Deep Dark Hole, You Can Hear It Calling, If You Stare Too Long Then You Might Fall In"

The album has two featured tracks, the first being "Imdead," featuring Falling in Reverse's Ronnie Radke. It's catchy as hell, it feels supersonic, and in extreme music these clean-sung choruses fit well within these bludgeoning instruments and harsh vocals. The second featured track is with Japanese kawaii metal group Babymetal, with "Song 3." As a journalist, musician, and lover of aggressive music, this was a surprise to see, as I am sure it was for the rest of you. However, this experimentation showed what a combination of kawaii metal and aggressive deathcore would actually sound like. The music video released with it showcases Oni masks, anime-style visuals, and MomoMetal's death growls. The track is wordplay to its truth, Momo being the third member of Babymetal, born on March 3rd of 2003, and the track itself being 3:33 long exactly. It's a fun, silly track, and it branches musical cultures into one another.

"Babayka" has a Russian sung chorus that comes out of its quarter-note headbanging, showing more of the versatility of Alex and how the band has evolved itself over the years. If you look back at their earlier albums of 2017's "Misery Sermon" and 2021's "Kostolom," the group does not change their aggressiveness or no-holds-barred style; they simply reach out to alternative ways of expressing it. Proving that point is "Koschei," which starts with acoustic guitars before ripping it into an altered version of itself, earth-moving with a sense of doom with violins. Bassist Mikhail Petrov has a rumbling, heavy bass tone that rattles through the verses; it makes the track feel like it's crawling towards you. "Rodina" is a softer tune, strung along with singing, speaking, and acoustic guitars. It builds into bashing chugs and double bass pedaling, but at its core it's a heavy serenade with an impressive guitar solo that's riddled with dive bombs and whammy bar usage. Certainly a distinctive track compared to the rest of the album.

"Hell Exists; See You There"

Over the last 3 years, we've seen some of these tracks previously released, building up to this very moment of the release of "Grizzly." "Behelit" is a unique track; instrumentally, it's big and cinematic. The clean and harsh vocal mixed sung chorus behind the orchestrals makes it sound like a track that a warmonger would play as he seeks to conquer the land. Lyrically, along with its music video, it tells the story of the popular manga "Berserk." I won't delve deep into the series here, but it's a noteworthy show of bloodshed, power lust, and demon slaying that I highly recommend. "1984" (named after the 1949 published book by author George Orwell) is an anti-war anthem, technical guitar work, and a plea against the ongoing war efforts of Russia and Ukraine. "Kid of Darkness" is a self-reflection of embracing pain and suffering and how these things are needed to assist in the change of ourselves. It's a mean track.

We're onto my favorites off the album; you have to save the best for last, starting with "Lift That Shit," an unapologetic crushing track meant for the weight room and the fighting ring. Some of us work off negative reinforcement, and Alex telling me to not be "a f*%ing pu$#y" and to "love the pain" taps into my primal cortex to push myself to the point of hemorrhage and breakage. Oh man, this one is visceral. "Viking" is another call to violence, and during live shows, you can see Alex yell out to crowds of thousands without a mic, echoing out (and clearly) "Unsatisfied primal fear!" and proceeding to beat his own head until bloodletting with the microphone during the breakdown. The album to this point has shown that the fighting spirit is woven into the band; they are relentless, they pride themselves on rightfully fought courage, and they are not shy of conflict.

"There's Only You, And Me, And Fat Fucking Conflict!"

Leads me into my favorite of the album, "Conflict." This is the crown jewel of it all to me. It's completely and utterly hostile, and God, do I love honorable violence. The music video is a literal bare-knuckle cage match of two men beating the hell out of each other—which is fu@#ing awesome and brutal. Some of us have the masculine urge to beat and to be beaten half to death in the name of honor and courage, and this track is exactly for us. The guitars, bass, and drums all build upon this literal fighting anthem. Alex taunts the opposition with, "Shut the f#@k up, and go walk, boy. Yeah, someone is training for battle with this thing. It's me. I'm the someone.

"Grizzly" is the culmination of Slaughter To Prevail's rise to global domination and popularity of the extreme metal genre. There's this aggressive yet honorable way they carry themselves, where they embrace conflict and battles and use this hardship as a pillar of strength. To see these demon-masked musicians also willing to have a softer, even comedic side of them is welcoming and feels more down-to-earth as to who they are off and on stage. 2025 is the year for deathcore—from the tendons of the underground and into the heartbeat of the mainstream. Let conflict reign, and let us become stronger for it.

You can catch Slaughter to Prevail on their upcoming fall & winter tours and festival dates here: