Description
Back in 2014, scrolling through the usual social media scrapyard, Jack Simmons was startled by one friends post: a performance video by Russian vocalist Aleksandr Alex Terrible Shikolai. At this point, the singer hadnt yet gone viral with his extreme cover versions, which reinvented everything from Queens We Will Rock You to Post Malones Congratulations. But Simmons was riveted and knew he needed to pounce. I took a look, before it was even getting the traction that he ended up getting, he says. It blew me away, to be honest. I just thought, Fucking hell, I need to write some music with this guy. I want to hear this over my guitars. The British musician was so struck by the singers technique which ranges from blood-curdling death-core growls to melodic rock belting that he reached out immediately, unbothered by the fact that they lived in different countries. More specifically, these practical concerns didnt even occur to him.
To be honest, it wasnt even really like that, he says. At the time, we didnt really see it going this far. It was more like, Oh, sick, Lets just write some music. This is gonna be great. Once we started putting out some songs, it actually started taking off. Then the thoughts came of, OK, were gonna need to tour. How are we gonna do it? Where are we gonna do it? Thats when the determination kicked in: We have something really good here. It very quickly turned from something very casual into the place where it is now. That now is Kostolom, the epic second LP from the duos band Slaughter to Prevail. The album expands on the dynamic extremes of their 2017 debut, Misery Sermon pairing Alexs dark, cathartic lyrics with Simmons pummelling riffs and tense, cinematic solos. We wanted to make each song for us stand out in a different way, the guitarist says. On some of the songs, we focused on wanting to keep it up tempo, building to a breakdown as the focal point. Other songs it was about groove or the chorus how can we make this melodic? The albums we love the most have those dynamics, and we want to use them to make each part hit harder.
File-swapping between England and Russia, Alex and Simmons organically crafted the songs without much literal discussion. We just send it back and forth, he adds. Honestly its as simple as that. Ive played in a quite a lot of bands where we try to write together, and this is the easiest way Ive written songs. Ill build the track, and once Ive got a rough draft of my vision which could be two riffs or three minutes of music Ill send it over, and we say, OK, this part works and this doesnt. And we send it back and forth until were both happy.
Even though the final product is packed with headphone-worthy details the textural guitars on the back-end of Bonebreaker, the tempo changes on Demolisher, the funky drum breaks on “Zavali Ebalo, the blown-out drum EQ and tremolo-style riffs on Ouroboros it was never overwrought. The songs evolved over several years, the first demos constructed shortly before the release of Misery Sermon. And they finally finished the material in late 2020, with everyone (Alex, Simmons, bassist Mikhail Petrov, guitarist Dmitry Mamedov) having tracked their respective parts at home. (Evgeny Novikov recorded his drums at a nearby studio in Moscow.)
Throughout that long haul, they did have one broad creative goal: to make a whole album of violent, pissed-off music. We didnt focus on Is this death-metal? Is it not death-metal? Simmons says. We just went for it, like, How can we make this [interesting], like our favourite albums? The classics like Hatebreed and Slayer and even some new stuff. Were trying to find that sense of danger, almost like a horror movie.
Kostolom certainly delivers the danger: Tracks like Made in Russia and Head on a Plate pile-drive their detuned riffs straight into your skull, offering a platform for Alex at his most menacing. But the frontman also stretches out across the record, adding clean choruses to anthems like Baba Yaga and Your Only.
Alexs words largely sung in Russian, with occasional bursts of English are also more balanced than the bleak song titles may suggest. The lyrics, Simmons says, are quite personal to anyone who listens, I think of personal struggle, keeping a positive mental attitude and going through the shit to have a better life and achieve your goals. Because of the long gestation period, a variety of sonic influences filtered into the project even if they arent obvious on the surface. “There wasnt necessarily one or two [inspirations], but I went through phases of listening to a lot of Bjork, a lot of New Orleans rap, a lot of nu-metal and black metal, Simmons says. Ill go through phases where Im not listening to much metal just a lot of dark wave and moodier, more melodic stuff. It was all over the place, which the album probably showcases. Its just whatever makes sense at the time.
As always, Slaughter to Prevail aim to provoke you, even as they empower you.
We want something that causes an emotion whether its good or bad, disappointment or excitement or whatever, Simmons says. We dont want something thats stereotypical.
CD digipack version.
Tracklisting:
Banditos
Russian Grizzly In America
ImDead
Babayka
Viking
Koschei
Song3 (feat. BABYMETAL)
Lift That Shit
Behelit
Rodina
Conflict
Kid of Darkness
1984
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