For those who have made our nests in a particular family of subgenres, some pros and cons come with the territory. The pros are that we keep our fingers on the newest heat-seeker bands in the scene, and check in with genre veterans with each new record. A big con of being so deeply steeped in the genre is that it is nearly impossible to escape from the inevitable drama in the scene, among band members, their fans, and the ever-closing distance between bands’ image and how an ever-evolving audience perceives them.

A band that has been in the midst of several intersecting conversations and controversies as they wrestle with the image they portray to Western audiences is Russia’s Slaughter to Prevail. A supergroup of sorts, the band rose to fame with 2017’s Misery Sermon, a chunky slab of extreme deathcore. They evolved their sound in a more heavily groove-focused direction, veering into Nu-Deathcore territory with 2021’s Kostolom. Receiving mixed audience reaction, I attempted to give an even-keeled review HERE, praising the stronger aspects of their sound, while pointing out some of the complaints I mirrored with listeners.

Several years and several new controversies later, the Russian bear quartet is back with their aptly named follow-up to Kostolom, in Grizzly. Thirteen new tracks of Nu-Metal-infused deathcore await listeners; I was particularly keen to see if they had learned lessons from the critique levied at their previous record, and worked commonly voiced feedback into their songwriting on this new record.

Right off the bat, Grizzly falls victim to the “singles curse”: six of the thirteen tracks of the record were released leading up to the official record. Releasing almost half of your record in efforts to generate and maintain hype for the upcoming full-length is a move that rarely serves its purpose. To review Grizzly in that vein, I will consider two separate slabs – the singles and new material exclusive to the full release of the album.

At the time of receiving the advanced review copy, the singles officially released across several months were “Russian Grizzly in America”, “Viking”, “Song 3 (feat. Babymetal)”, “Conflict”, “Kid of Darkness”, and “1984”. “Russian Grizzly in America” is everything you expect from the NuDeathcore-era Slaughter to Prevail. Another iteration of “heavier All Hope is Gone era Slipknot with more double-kick” will tell you everything you need to know about the track. With bog-standard chugs that even high-school kids are jaded about, and a trite chorus, we’re off to a rocky start with these singles. Slaughter to Prevail eschews any kind of nuance when infusing different elements into their sound. The Norse-inspired ambience ushers in the predictably titled “Viking”, only to divest itself of any actual Viking-metal elements, sticking to their Nu-Deathcore songwriting. They throw in some tremolo-picked sections to keep things “fresh”. They try some of their “Demolisher” (their claim to viral fame on Kostolom) on “Viking” with violently diminished returns. Been there, done that. No dice.

Speaking of gimmicks, Track 7 on Grizzly, annoyingly named “Song 3” features the kawaii-metal Babymetal. Babymetal brings their quirky infantile vocals to the track, in what seems like an afterthought level mismatch. A successful amalgamation of a heavy band utilizing Babymetal’s particular brand of anime-themed quirk was Bring Me The Horizon’s “Kingslayer”. “Song 3”, however, feels like a lazy mashup that feels like an awkward STP song layered with a lackluster addition of Babymetal’s chibi vocals (I say this as a fan of Babymetal). Grizzly ends with the trio run of released singles with “Conflict”, which feels like a soundtrack for UFC fanboys eating at Buffalo Wild Wings, “Kid of Darkness” which plays with some novel sonic textures, and closer “1984”, named with the nuance of a seventh grader with a sledgehammer with Rings of Saturn-esque weedles and more chug-chug-squeal riffs that was overdone four years ago. If the singles are any indication, Grizzly is running into several problems that further exacerbate the issues first cropping up in Kostolom.

The non-singles have higher highs and lower lows. Album opener “Banditos” starts off strong with fun glitches over a groovy chugged riff, which is still very Nu Metal, but reasonably bouncy via its own merit. The inclusion of symphonics simultaneously was a welcome addition to the STP sound, but also felt like more bandwagon-ing since we are yet mired in the Symphonic Deathcore era. Bands like Lorna Shore, Shadow of Intent, Worm Shepherd, and others are finding massive success. The Hispanic outro of “Banditos”, which meant to be tongue-in-cheek, following the “take us lightly, we’re memers” trope that Slaughter to Prevail loves to trot out, but is yet again another example of hamfisted gimmicky additions. Continuing to ride the symphonic deathcore coattails, the “blackened” “Behelit” feels more Evanescence-goth and Rammstein-industry than Lorna Shore’s bombastic spectacle. The Rammstein influence is brought to the foreground on “Koschei”, and it was only a matter of time before a band took elements from the industrial-nu-metal German juggernauts. Even the growl-cleans are reminiscent, but a pale imitation of Rammstein’s Lindemann. Remember when Rammstein released their trauma-infused heavy ballad “Mutter”? Now STP has one too! That’s “Rodina”! Do these guys have any original ideas? Also, if your retch meter isn’t maxed out yet, they did a song with Ronnie Radke, so ya-retch-ay?

My favorite track, and the only one I unabashedly enjoyed on this record, was “Babayka”. With a Rammstein-influenced cadence and Hungarian chant-like synth overlay, the chugs and cheeky surprises got me headbanging and taking notice of the interesting soundscapes. Instantly added to the gym playlist. In direct contrast to the banger “Babayka”, the ultra-testosterone-driven “Lift That Sh*t” is undoubtedly the weakest and most unnecessary, yet most symbolically apt track STP has released to date. A trite grey mess of a track, hopefully more a meme than a serious track, aimed at the “tough guy in the pit” deathcore fan.

Musicians Jack  Simmons (Acrania and Hollow Prophet), Dmitry Mamedov, and Mikhail Petrov are found wanting in Grizzly songwriting. While a justification could have been explained through as they changed their sound and were finding their feet in Kostolom, the years since have not improved their repertoire as much as we would like. With unsubtle pulling of influences from more successful bands, the lads smash their own Nu-metal tired mediocre songwriting in attempt to spice things up, only to moderate success. As mentioned in Kostolom’s review, the backbone of aggression solely lies in the mastercraft of drummer Evgeny Novikov (of Katalepsy fame). A multilimbed demon behind the kit, he manages to make even the most stereotypical arrangement burst at the seams with raw intensity.

Then there is vocalist Aleksandr ‘Alex Terrible’ Shikolai. Oh boy, where do we begin?

With the album art on Kostolom and furthermore with the album art for Grizzly, the band doesn’t try to hide that Slaughter to Prevail has fully become an “Alex Terrible and Friends” act. His antics on social media and in live shows have strongly divided audiences. With controversial (to say the least) opinions, stances, and projections, Alex’s shenanigans could only logically be attributed to a case of “any press is good press”, though every encounter with him and by extension, his band becomes an exercise in “separate art from artist”. All of this would be easier to swallow if Grizzly were an enjoyable, novel, or simply crushingly intense record. It fails on all three fronts.

Grizzly is a mediocre follow-up to the already divisive Kostolom. With overly contrived, jaded Nu-Deathcore writing and hamfisted elements from better bands, this record feels like a haphazard mishmash that fails more often than it succeeds.  With half of the record already out as singles, there is not much that fans have to look forward to with the full release of the record. With the face of the band mired in constant controversy and quickly waning public appeal, it is only a matter of time before Slaughter to Prevail is left in the mess of its own making.