8SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL - NEO-NAZI, HOMOPHOBIC , TRANSPHOBIC BAND, CANCELED IN EUROPE IN 2015, TOURS EUROPE AGAIN
UnitedKids
Russian deathcore band “Slaughter To Prevail” with a notorious Nazi and homophobic\transphobic frontman is about to tour Europe. In 2015 “Slaughter To Prevail”’s whole European tour was canceled after the allegations against the band’s frontman Alex Shikolai (aka Alex Terrible) saying that he was a member of Russian Neo-Nazi movement. Now nearly 10 years later Shikolai is trying to tour Europe again, despite his patriotic and pro-military rhetoric and imagery and the recent scandal when his homophobic and transphobic statements caused a backlash from the international LGBTQ community.
Besides reading this article, please, check this video investigation on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/gNG466pyJCs?si=yPCz6rz689D3KaKg
First allegations, “Slaughter to Prevail” canceled in Europe for 10 years
Slaughter To Prevail is a Russian deathcore band which , according to Wikipedia, reached popularity when its ” vocalist Alex Terrible gained a cult following online for his YouTube vocal cover videos.” In 2015 when Slaughter to Prevail were about to tour Europe, the allegations against their frontman Alex Terrible were published by numerous sources. The original article can be found here:
https://linksunten.indymedia.org/node/157937/index.html
After that the tour was canceled and the band couldn’t play in Europe for nearly 10 years. We advise you to read the article by yourself. Here are some of the main points of it:
- evidence of Shikolai’s support of well-known Russian Nazi brands such as White Rex
- evidence of Shikolai’s support of Russian Nazi bands such as You Must Murder and connections to the right wing artists such as Tony Raut
- posts and info from Shikolai’s social media proving his connections to the local Russian right-wing and Neo-Nazi hooligan groups
- Shikolai’s tattoos – black sun\swastika on his elbow, Nazi runes – such as Odal rune, officially forbidden in many European countires as a symbol of right wing extremists and hate groups
After the cancellation Shikolai released 2 statements. One in English, saying he was not a Nazi. One in Russian, saying that he still stays true to his beliefs, but has to make the English statement to save his career on the Western music scene. The Russian one was posted on Russian social media VK (Vkontakte) but soon deleted from the web. However it was seen by many people and caused a backlash and new accusations of lying to his fans – you can find it for example in the comments for the Indymedia article:
Shikolai also removed some of his tattoos, including the “black sun”.
Slaughter To Prevail never abandoned their patriotic and right-wing image and message.
Despite cancellation in Europe the band moved to the US and continued its music activity. However up to this day, despite the current political situation, Slaughter To Prevail has been using patriotic and pro-military image in its art, lyrics and merch. For example it sells numerous merch designs “Made In Russia” , has the song of the same name and uses images of tanks, Kalashnikov machine guns and other symbols of military aggression.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTVPHSeexBg
Check the images below:
https://www.slaughtertoprevailmerch.store
Just recently the band’s frontman Alex Shikolai started to sell masks covered with runes, including the same Odal Rune and other symbols associated with Nazi ideology and officially banned in Germany and other countries. Posts about these masks can be found on both his own Instagram account and merch account:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CzSCYD8PEOr/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Homophobic and transphobic statemenents
In summer of 2023 Alex Terrible made a series of Instagram posts and videos which were seen as blatantly homophobic\transphobic\sexist by an international LGBTQ community. Most of the posts seem to be deleted from his social media for now, but the texts and screenshots can be found in numerous publications from social media and music magazines.
In summer of 2023 Alex Terrible posted an Instagram video “4 Rules of a real man”, which unsurprisingly was viewed by many as homophobic and transphobic. You can read about it here:
“Four rules of real man.
First one, the real man eats woman pussy, he likes.
Second one, the real man eats food with his own hands.
Third one, the real man does sport, especially combat sport.
And the final one, the real man listen to metal music.”
On August 24 he made another post, addressing his critics and attacking them with a wide range of blatantly homophobic and sexist slur. In the same post Alex praised the “real family values” , talked about “brainwashing children” and used the standard set of transphobic propaganda. Can also be found here:
“It makes me uncomfortable when I touch on a heterosexual topic and it doesn’t matter at all, jokingly or seriously, there are a lot of people who start pointing fingers at me and calling me a homophobe or a women-hater. You are crazy! I don’t give a shit who are you and if you suck dicks balls ass or pussy it’s not my fucking deal I don’t want to know that. That’s your personal fucking stuff
I will not feel sorry for anyone and be gentle, I say what I think and sometimes I speak rudely. I hate propaganda in any form, especially when trying to brainwash children! I consider it a crime, children absorb everything like sponges and do not realize until they are of a conscious age. parents, teachers and educators are responsible for children and they must help them become individuals who in the future will take responsibility for their own destiny. If you want to cancel me for this then please! I won’t stop making my own music and being myself. Fuck you”
In a follow up post in his Instagram Alex continued attacking his critics with even more sexist and transphobic slur, for example calling them “sensitive pussies” and “pussy ass sensitive bitches”. You can find info about here on many sources on the web, for example: https://www.wearethepit.com/2023/08/alex-terrible-on-accusations-of-being-homophobic-fu-you/
“This is my last message for my fans who got offended. You asking me for respect and pay attention for group of people? You say I have to take care of all of my fans and It doesn’t matter what is that group Igbt or religious cult or whatever or whoever I will not respect you just for the fact that you exists. I will not take care of anyone I don’t know personally and probably I would donate to animals more than to human. even if you are oppressed and you are in the minority. I respect only strong people and I don’t give a damn what color you are, orientation, and what values you have. You have no fucking excuses . if you are a strong person and do something for you, your family and people around you, and do not live in chaos, you are worthy of my respect and attention to you. I want to live in society like this. Not in society with pussies ass sensitive bitches. And I know probably a lot of you don’t care about giving my respect for anyone. Anyway I respect human feelings but also I will not bend under you. Fuck you For All of you fucking sensitive pussies I’m gonna say ITS SO DIFFICULT AND SAD TO BE YOU. I’m sorry. Fucking do something”
Alex Terrible received words of support from Falling In Reverse vocalist Ronnie Radke, who had been banned from a number of social media for controversial statements he made about trans people and gender identity.
Animal cruelty
Alex Terrible is known for using multiple promo posts and photos, posing with animals in captivity: wrestling a bear or holding an alligator on a leash and with its jaws fixed by a bandage. While he pretends that the animals “feel ok and safe”, it’s obvious that it’s unnatural and uncomfortable for the wild animals to be held in captivity and forced to pose or even “wrestle” to make some promo-shots.
By the way in one of these photos Alex poses in a t-shirt of Russian patriotic / sports brand (the name of the brand is an old Slavic word for “army”).
Alex Terrible’s attempt to deny accusations.
Facing all the old and new allegations and trying to save the upcoming Euro-Tour Alex Terrible made a several YouTube videos. In those videos he denies the allegations, admitting that he was hanging out with Nazis but pretending he was not a Nazi and he also changed since those days. And also stating that he is not a homophobe/transphobe, without even apologizing for his previous discriminatory statements.
Video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugVdl-P8mKo
Transcription of Alex words is here:
There were also a number of publications in online music magazines aimed to whitewash Alex’s reputation, also stating that Alex was not a real Nazi but just a product of his environment. This tactic is understandable – Slaughter To Prevail is a popular band and its management and label should be interested to save the tour and keep making money from the band.
However all these attempts to whitewash Alexs image can be easily refuted.
- as the article on Indymedia from 2015 shows Alex was not just “going to the gym with right-wing guys and getting Nazi tattoos”. He was a devoted supporter of Nazi brands, had tight contacts with Nazi bands and artists and which is most important had tight contacts with local Neo-Nazi and right wing gangs
- Alex became part of the Neo-Nazi scene at the moment when this movement was really strong and popular in Russia. Right wing and Nazi movement was responsible for countless attacks and murders of the representatives of the minorities, including people of color, immigrants, gay people.
- Alex admits that he was participating in violent attacks, saying "I had A black sun tattoo, I was hanging with the right wing guys, I was dressing up like a skinhead, I WAS FIGHTING...I don't regret about that" , check this recent video from him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugVdl-P8mKo
- Also a fact that an already popular metal musician like him openly supported such ideas definitely gave a lot of inspiration and strength to the members of the right wing scene and gangs
- At the same period of time there was Antifascist movement in Russia and numerous human rights organizations, but the right wing scene was much bigger and stronger. Alex made his choice, joining and actively supporting Neo-Nazi scene. His attempt to play victim today only devalue and mock the suffering of real victims of hate crimes which he supported for years
- For all the years since 2015 he was denying and ignoring the accusations and had to admit them only now to save the tour . It means he was lying to everybody including his fans. If he was true to his fans, why did he lie that he was not a Nazi in 2015, but admitted it now?
- Alex never apologized for his past and never did anything to try to fix his “mistakes”. Moreover he openly says that he regret nothing and is living his “beautiful life” because of that experience. ”I had A black sun tattoo. I was hanging with the right-wing guys. I was listening to the fucking music and all that shit...I was dressing as a skinhead. I was fighting. And I’m not regret about that. Not at all… I’m Alex Terrible and I’m living my fucking beautiful life. My dream. My dream comes true every fucking day. And I work hard. Just because of that experience I am who I am right now.” What about all the people who got seriously hurt or murdered by Alex’s Nazi friends and fans back in the day and who will never live “beautiful life”? One can find these words following the links to the video and its transcription in the beginning of this chapter.
- As stated in the previous text of this article, during all these years Alex was pushing the same patriotic, right-wing agenda: selling masks with runes – symbols of hate groups, making lyrics and merch with patriotic and pro-military message
- While pretending he is not a homophobe, Alex did everything he could to prove he actually is one. Right before the tour Alex made a series of blatantly homophobic, sexist and transphobic posts, never even apologized for that or admitted he was wrong, but attacked his critics with more discriminatory rhetoric instead
- Especially for those of his fans commenting things like “I’m gay/bi/trans and I support Slaughter To Prevail” – it’s great that you live in a safe environment and can allow yourself to support the music band despite its discriminatory message. But let us remind you that not everybody in our world is as privileged as you. There is a lot of people who live under a constant threat of direct violence due to their sexuality or gender identity etc and Alex’s words only fuel the hatred towards gay/trans people and give more strength and support to homophobes and transphobes, since his message is a typical set of slogans of every militant transphobe/homophobe.
Summing this up
All the facts above prove that Alex Terrible, the frontman of Slaughter To Prevail not only didn’t change his ways but moved further from supporting Neo-Nazi scene to spreading homophobic and transphobic propaganda. Slaughter To Prevail is a very popular extreme music band on an international level and letting them play a tour all over Europe will open the gate into the scene for countless bands and individuals with the same discriminatory and hateful ideas. It will show the Nazis, homophobes and transphobes that their ideology is accepted on a major level which will encourage them to keep taking over the scene. One can already see a lot of supportive comments on the band’s and Alex’s social media and youtube, saying things like “Alex says what everybody thinks” etc. LGBTQ and trans people will never be able to feel safe at the venues which would accept this band and in the scene in general.
What one can do?
We encourage you to:
1) spread this article , share it on your social media, send it to your friends
2) contact your local Antifascist bands, Human rights groups, LGBTQ rights groups and send them a link to this article
3) contact the clubs where Slaughter To Prevail is going to play and ask them why are they booking a band with a Neo-Nazi, homophobic and transphobic frontman. Send them this article.
4) ask Slaughter To Prevail label and booking agent, why do they feel ok to work with a blatantly right-wing and homophobic/transphobic artist.
