Slaughter to Prevail

Rooted between Russia and the United Kingdom, Slaughter to Prevail is a deathcore band formed in the mid‑2010s around vocalist Aleksandr “Alex Terrible” Shikolai and British guitarist Jack Simmons, initially tied to the Yekaterinburg scene. Slaughter to Prevail first broke through online with singles and a strong video presence, before releasing the EP Chapters of Misery in 2015, which established a very brutal deathcore sound, blending rapid‑fire riffs, heavy breakdowns, and extreme guttural vocals. Their debut album Misery Sermon, released in 2017, confirmed this mix of modern death metal and deathcore, with lyrics in both English and Russian that underscore the band’s roots in a Russian‑speaking context while aiming for an international audience. With 2021’s Kostolom, Slaughter to Prevail retained that aggressive foundation while incorporating more hook‑driven passages, groovier rhythms, and more varied song structures. Frequent lineup changes have left the Shikolai–Simmons core in charge artistically, while the band has toured extensively across Europe, North America, and Russia, moving between deathcore stages, metal festivals, and club runs. Thanks to its distinctive geographic and linguistic positioning, Slaughter to Prevail occupies a clearly identifiable place in the contemporary deathcore landscape, at the crossroads of the Russian and Anglophone scenes.