SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL

If you haven't already formed a firm opinion about SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL, you may need to get one fast. The Russians have risen from relative obscurity to the upper echelons of the modern metal scene. After spending the last decade ripping it up in front of as many people as humanly possible, and releasing two albums of increasing ambition, Alex Terrible and his comrades are on the cusp of hugeness. In many ways, they are the perfect modern metal band.

With a sound that embraces deathcore, nu-metal, metalcore and various strands of extreme metal, SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL have a lot of bases covered. They also have a frontman who has become deservedly legendary in the sphere of extreme metal vocals, and whose somewhat vexed reputation enables his band to retain a sense of chaos and danger that more polite contemporaries struggle to muster. It is obvious from "Grizzly" that SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL are ambitious, and that they have plenty to back up their bravado. It is also clear that this band does not give a solitary fuck about fitting in. Collaborations with BABYMETAL and FALLING IN REVERSE's Ronnie Radke proclaim a cheerful disregard for what is generally regarded as cool in deathcore circles, and the sheer catchiness of these songs is hammered home with such gusto that it seems unlikely that Alex Terrible is ever sitting at home fretting about negative comments from death metal purists on TikTok (or wherever it is those crazy guys hang out). Unquestionably, "Grizzly" is a big, ugly lurch towards the big time.

It is all there in the opening "Banditos". The furious, scratchy intro that owes its ass to SLIPKNOT. The brutal but groovy riffs and breakdowns. The lavish production that weaves all that viciousness together with flashes of symphonic extravagance. And Terrible's vocals: abominable, commanding, precise. The slick amalgamation of deathcore aggression with nu-metal accessibility is inspired, but SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL never sound beholden to a formula. Nor do they compromise on their heaviness, which reaches new levels here. Songs like "Russian Grizzly In America" and "Babayka" might be loaded with hooks, but the band's execution is thrillingly brutish, destructive and unhinged. The collaboration with Radke is crushing. The team up with BABYMETAL is genuinely insane. "Grizzly" has hits, but they leave nasty scars.

There is no doubt that SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL's songwriting has matured far beyond the multi-genre extremity of their previous two records. Supremely focused on delivering the metallic money shots that cause the most carnage in a live setting, "Grizzly" is way smarter than it initially appears. There is great invention in the scattershot arrangements of "Viking" and "Conflict", amid the alt-metal churn of "Koschei", and simmering gently in the post-hardcore-tinged "1984" and the orchestral splendor of "Rodina". Even the most straightforward songs — the proudly lobotomized "Lift That Shit" springs immediately to mind — have more depth and greater intricacies than SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL's rep might suggest. "Grizzly" wields a sledgehammer, but always with the brain engaged.