It’s a ravishing day within the neighbourhood, and Alex Horrible is arguing with a bear. The Slaughter To Prevail frontman is standing shirtless and tattooed on a suburban road nook in Los Angeles, confronting a grizzly that stands almost three metres tall. All of a sudden, he begins grappling with the beast, burrowing into its thick brown fur.
The bear and the Russian-born singer stagger in a death-grip on the sidewalk till the monster shoves Alex down onto a neatly trimmed garden. That’s when a tall, blond determine seems behind the bear. That is Alexander Volkov, a Russian UFC heavyweight fighter. Volkov faucets the animal on a shoulder, and it runs away in terror.
Fortunately, there isn’t a real-life bear operating wild on the streets of LA. Alex is capturing a video for Russian Grizzly, a single from Slaughter To Prevail’s upcoming third album, Grizzly, with a Russian/Ukrainian digital camera crew. The bear is an elaborate costume with an animatronic head that grimaces and growls on command. The scene is performed for comedy, however Alex is fast to level out the truth.
“In Russia, if you see a bear, it’s not fucking humorous,” he says with fun. He ought to know. This bear could also be faux, however he has expertise of wrestling the actual factor again in Moscow – particularly a lumbering brown bear named Tom. Alex Horrible is that form of man.
Grizzly represents a giant step up for Slaughter To Prevail. Since releasing their debut single, Topped & Conquered, in late 2014, they’ve risen by means of the deathcore ranks. Every successive launch, together with their two earlier albums, 2017’s Distress Sermon and 2021’s Kostolom, has taken them additional out of the underground and nearer to steel’s mainstream.
By a minimum of one metric they’re the most important deathcore band round proper now, with greater than 1 million month-to-month listeners on Spotify – nearly 200,000 greater than Lorna Shore, 400,000 greater than Whitechapel, and almost twice as many as Suicide Silence. In 2024, they performed Obtain, a welcome shot of brutality at an occasion headlined by Fall Out Boy, Queens Of The Stone Age and Avenged Sevenfold. It’s a development Alex hopes to proceed, following the likes of Knocked Free and Turnstile onto such US festivals as Coachella and Bonnaroo.
“This underground music is changing into like pop – mainstream,” says the singer. “I really like that, as a result of it was my objective to convey that shit exterior.”
The place Slaughter To Prevail music movies have sometimes been low-budget DIY productions made by a buddy with a digital camera, the video for Russian Grizzly steps issues up. Yesterday, the band shot efficiency footage on the Whisky a Go Go on the Sundown Strip, with the bear in a circle-pit. This morning, the band and movie crew have been on the boardwalk of Venice Seaside, dealing with off once more with the bear and lining up for intestine punches from Volkov’s gloved fists. For environment, the video manufacturing group have rented an previous Lada wagon, a boxy little Soviet-era automobile painted utilitarian beige. In a single scene, Alex struggles and fails to squeeze the bear into the backseat.
Between takes, Alex and Volkov stand on the road to check one another’s toughness. At 6’ 7, the golden-haired fighter is a full head taller than the singer. Alex braces himself as a smiling Volkov sends his fist into the singer’s abdomen, touchdown with a loud thud. Alex instantly doubles over with a real groan of ache. He then returns the favour, firing a punch proper into Volkov’s abs. The fighter doesn’t flinch.
“Was it good?” the singer asks in Russian. Volkov nods with a smile, and Alex provides a hopeful, “Hurts?”
“Just a little bit,” Volkov solutions, and Alex laughs out loud. Regardless of a fearsome exterior and a singing voice from the depths of the netherworld, in individual the frontman is fast to chortle at himself and the scene round him. Slaughter To Prevail are constructed round Alex, a superhuman steel screamer who bounds to the stage like a warrior. He appears like an inked-up Wolverine up there, together with his beard and ripped musculature, a deep scar deliberately carved into his face as savage ornament. The truth that his hobbies embrace bear-wrestling and cagefighting isn’t a shock.
He’s fiercely formidable too, and the brand new album is a signifier of that ambition. Final 12 months’s single, Behelit, was a relentless steel anthem that wore the influences of Rammstein, Pantera and Slipknot. Its lyrics have been impressed by the character Guts from the anime Berserk, primarily based on a Manga comedian a couple of warrior combating his manner throughout medieval Europe.
“Once we wrote this observe, we have been occupied with attempting one thing epic, and perhaps change somewhat bit with the vocals, and put some… not clear vocals, however extra comprehensible, emotional,” says Alex. “We’re not afraid to attempt one thing new.”
One other observe, 2023’s Viking, was a swirling, intense, bloodthirsty rant, opening with a threatening growl and a navy beat.
“I say, ‘I’ll shed the blood. I put together for conflict. I’ll go into conflict’, and it’s simply artwork,” says the singer. “I’m not a political man. I’m only a musician and I do music. It is determined by my temper.”
That concept of artwork versus actuality is backed up by an announcement Slaughter To Prevail launched within the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022: “No to conflict! Our band has nothing to do with politics, we don’t take sides… We don’t settle for ANY navy motion.”
Today, Alex and his Russian bandmates – rhythm guitarist Dmitry ‘Dima’ Mamedov, bassist Mikhail ‘Mike’ Petrov and drummer Evgeny Novikov – stay in Florida, the place Grizzly was largely recorded. British guitarist Jack Simmons lives a nomadic life between the UK, Poland and Florida.
Alex first fell in love with the Sunshine State throughout a stop-off on tour with Florida deathcore act Bodysnatcher. After the conflict in Ukraine started, he determined to relocate there.
“Palms in every single place, seashore, good climate, excellent roads, constructive individuals. They’re not in a rush,” Alex says dreamily. “I like this life-style. My city could be very gray sky, brutal winter, very soiled roads, very indignant individuals, as a result of all of this shit is round. Once I was in Florida, I used to be like, ‘Wow, that is sick.’”
Grizzly represents a giant step up for Slaughter To Prevail. Since releasing their debut single, Topped & Conquered, in late 2014, they’ve risen by means of the deathcore ranks. Every successive launch, together with their two earlier albums, 2017’s Distress Sermon and 2021’s Kostolom, has taken them additional out of the underground and nearer to steel’s mainstream.
By a minimum of one metric they’re the most important deathcore band round proper now, with greater than 1 million month-to-month listeners on Spotify – nearly 200,000 greater than Lorna Shore, 400,000 greater than Whitechapel, and almost twice as many as Suicide Silence. In 2024, they performed Obtain, a welcome shot of brutality at an occasion headlined by Fall Out Boy, Queens Of The Stone Age and Avenged Sevenfold. It’s a development Alex hopes to proceed, following the likes of Knocked Free and Turnstile onto such US festivals as Coachella and Bonnaroo.
“This underground music is changing into like pop – mainstream,” says the singer. “I really like that, as a result of it was my objective to convey that shit exterior.”
The place Slaughter To Prevail music movies have sometimes been low-budget DIY productions made by a buddy with a digital camera, the video for Russian Grizzly steps issues up. Yesterday, the band shot efficiency footage on the Whisky a Go Go on the Sundown Strip, with the bear in a circle-pit. This morning, the band and movie crew have been on the boardwalk of Venice Seaside, dealing with off once more with the bear and lining up for intestine punches from Volkov’s gloved fists. For environment, the video manufacturing group have rented an previous Lada wagon, a boxy little Soviet-era automobile painted utilitarian beige. In a single scene, Alex struggles and fails to squeeze the bear into the backseat.
Between takes, Alex and Volkov stand on the road to check one another’s toughness. At 6’ 7, the golden-haired fighter is a full head taller than the singer. Alex braces himself as a smiling Volkov sends his fist into the singer’s abdomen, touchdown with a loud thud. Alex instantly doubles over with a real groan of ache. He then returns the favour, firing a punch proper into Volkov’s abs. The fighter doesn’t flinch.
“Was it good?” the singer asks in Russian. Volkov nods with a smile, and Alex provides a hopeful, “Hurts?”
“Just a little bit,” Volkov solutions, and Alex laughs out loud. Regardless of a fearsome exterior and a singing voice from the depths of the netherworld, in individual the frontman is fast to chortle at himself and the scene round him. Slaughter To Prevail are constructed round Alex, a superhuman steel screamer who bounds to the stage like a warrior. He appears like an inked-up Wolverine up there, together with his beard and ripped musculature, a deep scar deliberately carved into his face as savage ornament. The truth that his hobbies embrace bear-wrestling and cagefighting isn’t a shock.
He’s fiercely formidable too, and the brand new album is a signifier of that ambition. Final 12 months’s single, Behelit, was a relentless steel anthem that wore the influences of Rammstein, Pantera and Slipknot. Its lyrics have been impressed by the character Guts from the anime Berserk, primarily based on a Manga comedian a couple of warrior combating his manner throughout medieval Europe.
“Once we wrote this observe, we have been occupied with attempting one thing epic, and perhaps change somewhat bit with the vocals, and put some… not clear vocals, however extra comprehensible, emotional,” says Alex. “We’re not afraid to attempt one thing new.”
One other observe, 2023’s Viking, was a swirling, intense, bloodthirsty rant, opening with a threatening growl and a navy beat.
“I say, ‘I’ll shed the blood. I put together for conflict. I’ll go into conflict’, and it’s simply artwork,” says the singer. “I’m not a political man. I’m only a musician and I do music. It is determined by my temper.”
That concept of artwork versus actuality is backed up by an announcement Slaughter To Prevail launched within the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022: “No to conflict! Our band has nothing to do with politics, we don’t take sides… We don’t settle for ANY navy motion.”
Today, Alex and his Russian bandmates – rhythm guitarist Dmitry ‘Dima’ Mamedov, bassist Mikhail ‘Mike’ Petrov and drummer Evgeny Novikov – stay in Florida, the place Grizzly was largely recorded. British guitarist Jack Simmons lives a nomadic life between the UK, Poland and Florida.
Alex first fell in love with the Sunshine State throughout a stop-off on tour with Florida deathcore act Bodysnatcher. After the conflict in Ukraine started, he determined to relocate there.
“Palms in every single place, seashore, good climate, excellent roads, constructive individuals. They’re not in a rush,” Alex says dreamily. “I like this life-style. My city could be very gray sky, brutal winter, very soiled roads, very indignant individuals, as a result of all of this shit is round. Once I was in Florida, I used to be like, ‘Wow, that is sick.’”
Alex Horrible was born Aleksandr Shikolai within the Ural Mountains of west-central Russia in 1993. His childhood was spent first in a small village referred to as Bolshoy Istok, earlier than he moved to close by Sysert, the place his stepfather, a veteran of the Russian navy, co-founded a navy college for boys (Alex’s organic father left when he was six). Many of the college students there have been children with no mother and father. Alex has in contrast the college to a “jail for kids”. It was a troublesome, indignant crowd.
It was there that one other pupil launched Alex to the music of Slipknot, Deliver Me the Horizon and Suicide Silence. “The vocals have been so aggressive, however on the similar time, it was like artwork for me,” Alex remembers of the latter’s landmark debut album, The Cleaning. “It was the scream from the underside of the soul, from the underside of the center.”
At 13, he tried singing in that very same guttural fashion, and was severe about it from the start. He started to gather tattoos over his arms and chest, paying with the cash his mom gave him to purchase breakfast each morning. The designs echoed what he noticed inked onto the pores and skin of Deliver Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes and Mitch Lucker from Suicide Silence.
“I used to be like a copycat: I’m gonna do the identical as a result of this works,” remembers Alex, who ignored the considerations of his mom, sister and mates that the skulls, snakes and horned demons inked onto his pores and skin would break his possibilities of ever discovering a job. “I all the time mentioned, ‘I can’t work for anyone. I will probably be a giant rock star.’ I used to be positive.”
He adopted the title Alex Horrible, an echo of brutal Sixteenth- century Russian Tsar Ivan The Horrible. His greatest problem was discovering musicians to play deathcore with the identical stage of seriousness. He started posting movies of himself on YouTube singing cowl songs in his bed room, taking up something from Nirvana and Linkin Park to the bleakest deathcore songs he may discover. One in every of his earliest clips confirmed the boyish singer in a crimson Nike polo shirt, recent tattoos on his neck, roaring with guttural rage by means of Unanswered by Suicide Silence. He quickly heard from musicians seeking to collaborate.
The one who stood out was Jack Simmons, a member of UK deathcore band Acrania. Jack reached out to Alex by means of Fb, and so they quickly started writing songs collectively on-line. The guitarist constructed instrumental tracks and despatched them to the Russian.
“I used to be so excited to place my very own vocals on this new music, our music,” says Alex, who added closely accented vocals that blended Russian and English lyrics. “It was not simply brutal slam. Jack has these visions for making this sound recent and fascinating. And it all the time sounds catchy. You begin to headbang and the melody has this soul.”
Their first releases have been explosive, main with the Topped & Conquered single in 2014 and the EP Chapters Of Distress in 2015. The band’s first US tour in 2016 was with Cannibal Corpse, and Alex may hardly imagine it was occurring.
“I used to be like, ‘I’m residing in The Matrix.’ It was unreal,” he notes of a sense that continues for him even now. “I didn’t even dream about all of this.”
In these early years, bandmembers got here and went, together with UK and US musicians, earlier than they settled on a largely Russian line-up. Alex wore a demonic masks of his personal design, impressed by Slipknot and the comedian e-book antihero Spawn, with horns and a shifting jaw. At first, solely the singer wore the masks onstage for his or her opening track, however step by step the opposite members started sporting them. At present, Alex sells the masks for greater than $100 every, whereas their current single Child Of Darkness refers back to the title of the masks.
Slaughter To Prevail’s second album, 2021’s Kostolom, was a turning level. The flailing, layered observe Demolisher represented the form of progress Alex had hoped for. Then, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the band responded with the punishing single, 1984, named after the George Orwell novel a couple of totalitarian society. Alex had already expressed opposition to the conflict on social media, however this put the total muscle of the band behind an antiwar message: ‘Please cease the violence / please cease the bloodshed on Earth!’”
“As a musician, what can I do? I can do solely music,” Alex says. “So I write a track about conflict, and it’s simply disgusting. I might by no means go in for conflict as a result of I don’t need to be killed. I don’t need to kill any individual. I don’t need to see this chaos… However I by no means say I’m towards my very own nation. I really like my nation. I really like Russian individuals. I simply don’t like this silly scenario.”
That unfiltered strategy has additionally gotten him in bother. In 2023, he posted an exaggeratedly macho video titled ‘4 Guidelines for Actual Males’, which instructed males to exhibit heavy steel devotion, take pleasure in fight sports activities, eat with their fingers, and carry out oral intercourse on ladies. He’s mentioned it was meant to be comedy, however when he was criticised for it, he responded with a combative observe to Instagram: “There are lots of people who begin pointing fingers at me and calling me a homophobe or a women-hater. You’re loopy! For those who don’t like that I’m a straight man and have conventional household values, please unfollow me!”
The tone was each aggressive and defensive, and he went on to cloud the difficulty additional in the identical assertion: “I hate propaganda in any kind, particularly when attempting to brainwash kids! I contemplate it against the law, kids soak up every little thing like sponges and don’t realise till they’re of a acutely aware age.”
Some interpreted his phrases as an indication he agreed with right-wing commentators who don’t need LGBTQ-inclusive schooling in faculties. Alex hasn’t addressed the outcry since. At present, he doesn’t come over as somebody who has given a lot thought to why individuals have been upset, or the challenges dealing with the LGBTQ group.
“Generally it hurts my status as a result of I’m an trustworthy man and I’m not a intelligent man,” he says. “I’m from a small village. I by no means completed highschool. I’ve all the time been within the music trade, so I by no means discovered about politics, enterprise, philosophy or all of this good shit. On the similar time, I’m a really open individual. My philosophy is stay your life… don’t contact others’ faith, don’t contact others’ opinions about this life, don’t contact others’ morals. However on the similar time, I arise with my morals, with my views, and I’m by no means propagandist.”
It’s not the one controversy surrounding him. Among the many many tattoos on his physique was a so-called ‘black solar’, an historic European image later appropriated by the Nazis. The tattoo prompted questions on the web about his political and racial beliefs.
Alex has made no secret that he fell in with a far proper clique in his late teenagers and early 20s (earlier than that, he frolicked with a far left, Antifa-style group), although has insisted that he’s not that individual.
“After all, I’m not a Nazi”, he informed the Rock Feed podcast in 2024, including: “I’m not remorse [sic] about something, about errors in my life or any silly shit or no matter, as a result of I’ll by no means change it, I’ll transfer ahead. And proper now, I’m a special individual.”
The tattoo has now been coated up, however his rationale for getting it within the first place – that he was younger and silly and in search of a spot to belong – mixed with a refusal to utterly denounce that interval in his life as a result of it’s a part of what formed who he’s right now isn’t sufficient for some, and controversy nonetheless simmers. However anybody anticipating Alex Horrible to again down from a struggle will probably be ready a very long time.
Per week after the video shoot, Alex calls us again. He’s again in Yekaterinburg, Russia, the place it’s midnight. Most visits again dwelling final a few weeks, however this time he’s staying together with his mother and father for a number of months in order that he can compete in a bareknuckle/blended martial arts Russian Cagefighting Championship (he gained his very first bout in January 2025). He trains arduous within the fitness center each day.
He’ll in any other case be on the highway with Slaughter To Prevail for a lot of 2025, decided to unfold his enraged music all over the world. He stays thrilled to be enjoying for the lots and for no matter comes after.
“Perhaps in a number of years you’ll return to smaller venues, as a result of no one will give a shit about you,” he says with fun. “However I’m prepared for this, as a result of I’m doing what I like to do, and that is from my coronary heart. If we get widespread, it’s cool. If we don’t, I don’t give a shit.”
New Slaughter To Prevail album Grizzly is out July 18 by way of Sumerian. Order an unique crimson splatter vinyl variant with pop up artwork by way of the official Steel Hammer retailer, the place it’s also possible to choose up a restricted version Slaughter To Prevail bundle with unique Grizzly tee.
