Slaughter to Prevail have been at the forefront of the modern deathcore scene in the last few years, standing out for their Nu-Metal influences, memorable frontman, and unapologetically Russian persona with bears, tanks, adidas sweatpants & more. They released their breakout album Kostolom under Sumerian in 2021, and are back with a brand new album still under the same label. Let’s talk about Grizzly!
Listen to the full album on YouTube!
Before getting into the tracks, it’s important to have perspective on the band’s sound: their last record managed to blend slamming deathcore with touches of nu-metal and even some pop sensibilities. The Russian demons have a wide catalogue of hits like the appropriately named Demolisher, the meme-filled Baba Yaga or the bone crushing Bonebreaker. The band talked about various topics over the album, and did get pretty dark in some of the songs, but the focus felt like it was more on the chugs, the breakdown & the brutal delivery of Alex Terrible’s vocals. However, the new record manages to build off of that and to also expand the band, where the members seem more comfortable to talk about serious issues. It is also important to note that a variety of tracks from Grizzly came out over the last four years, including 1984, Behelit (Review here!), Viking, Conflict, Kid of Darkness, Song 3 & Russian Grizzly in America. This means that about half of this record was out over the past few years, however they managed to make it all work in the bigger picture. Without further ado, Grizzly!
The album opens with Banditos which at first sounds like your usual song from the band, glitchy noises, Evgeny going ham on the drums and Alex letting out bear worthy growls. But the track slowly adds groove changes and even choir elements. As such, the band took what they did with Behelit & incorporated it in their sound, perfectly bridging the gap between Kostolom & Grizzly.
The second track is Russian Grizzly in America and this track serves as the fun, crowd shaking track of the album. The music video is definitely a stand out and is worth watching on its own merits for the fun of it. This track is a bit more straightforward, reminiscent of the last album, but the growth here is present especially in the vocals. Alex was once famous for his lows & deep growls, but he seems to incorporate a multitude of vocal styles in every song, for this track we have lows, low lows & lots of vicious highs from the frontman.
Listen to Russian Grizzly in America on YouTube!
The album features two collabs, Imdead featuring the infamous Ronnie Radke and Song 3 which is a full on collaboration with Babymetal! The former track is a pretty standard track for the band, ornate by Ronnie’s screams. It starts to stand out a bit more during the bridge, where they go full on Falling in Reverse style-wise, alternating vocals between the two frontmen. Song 3 however is arguably one of the biggest standouts of the album. The instrumental blends the anthemic style of Babymetal with the slamming & noisy style of STP.
Babayka is another track that shows evolution, incorporating clean vocals in a very traditional style of singing, big choir & bells in the background, with an industrial feel. The band is experimenting and turning its sound on its head. This song is reminiscent of tracks like Bratva. Viking follows, hammering down the anti-war sentiment of the album, with a neckbreaker reminiscent of the band’s old material but with a big & open chorus that manages to send shivers down the listener’s spine. Koschei is a nice slamming track, heavy two steps by Evgeny to lead the rhythm but the song doesn’t stand out when it's backed by Viking and fronted by Song 3.
Lift that shit is a nice gym-track that leans into a more simple style than the other tracks, with nice intention of course, smashing the hell out of you while you listen to it. The next track however, is our first ever (& no one saw it coming) Slaughter to Prevail ballad. Chords, acoustic guitar, no one would believe it. In this emotional track, Alex sings about his motherland and how his heart aches for the current days. And this song is not the only one that leans on a more vulnerable side. The next track is Conflict, already released and probably the weakest single of the album, yet still a head smasher of a song. The syncopated pinch harmonics of the chorus riff is strong & memorable. Kid of Darkness follows, also a single, with nice melodic elements to the main melody, all in a Mudvayne style music video, nice!
The closing track is 1984, released a while ago during the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and this track is a good song to end the album with, where Alex Terrible shows a very vulnerable side of him and arguably the whole band. Jack Simmons’ sinister guitar leads leading into the two step verses, and ends the song with a groove and a call for remembrance rather than a head-crushing breakdown. Lyrics like “Please stop the violence” and “Look in the eyes of the children, they’re scared, remember yourself” are poignant & memorable. Despite the vulnerability the track keeps a good amount of heaviness and anger, topping with the line “Anger will live & prevail” to close off the track.
The album is a stylistic evolution and shows the band has been able to turn their sound around without alienating their fans. We can hear a lot of what we already expected from a Slaughter to Prevail album but the clean vocals, more technical drums & orchestral elements are all a nice addition to an album that manages to balance heartfelt anti-war messages in a good amount of fun and head crushing riffs. The standout tracks are hard to pick since the album manages to stay consistent in quality, but Viking, Babyka, Song 3 & 1984 are some of the best tracks the band has released. The Russian grizzlies have done it again and released an album that bends the rules of deathcore, and has a recognizable, signature sound.
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