Slaughter To Prevail vocalist Alex Terrible has admitted he thinks he'll never escape the controversy surrounding the band. Speaking to Metal Hammer ahead of their headline performance at Bloodstock Festival in the UK last week, the singer participated in a 'People Vs' feature, where musicians answer questions from the general public.
The Russian group – now based in Florida – have long been dogged by controversy. Alex has previously owned up to having tattoos which have been associated with white supremacism – a Black Sun and Othala Rune – though he denied he ever got them for political reasons, and had the Black Sun tattoo covered up. He has also acknowledged other past associations with the far right that have emerged in recent years.
Here's what he had to say on it all when we interviewed him. The first question is from one of our readers, the rest are from Metal Hammer directly.
Do you think you’ll ever beat the Nazi allegations?
“No, because people try to hate me and find any reason to hate me. Which is fine. No matter what I say, no matter how I say [it]... I get used to it. It is the internet. I never get hate in real life - this is a very interesting thing. Every time I read about myself and my band on the internet, it is very different to real life.
"At festivals like Bloodstock, in real life, I get nothing but respect from the other bands, other artists, from people in general. They tell me that the internet is not real life and of course, I understand that and I understand why people hate me. They have read something about me on the internet, and they have made up this image of me which is not real. So, probably, it will stick with me forever.”
The reason that it's brought up the most is because of the tattoos
“Yes, I understand that. I have had to come to terms with that and I am paying the price now. I am paying the price for the stupid decision to get the black sun tattoo and hanging out with the right-wing guys [when I was younger].
"They were not even Nazis, they were just right-wing guys, but we used these fucking symbols in Russia to, like, look more tough, and that was our culture. I don’t know. I understand the hate, I really do. I am paying the price.”
So would you do the same thing again if you could go back?
“Listen: if I went back, I would not get any of those tattoos because my mindset [has] changed a lot. I don’t understand why I got that tattoo [in the first place]. But you have to understand that all of this *gestures to his body* has built who I am, has built me as a character, for good and for bad, I am just a human being. I make mistakes as well.
"People call me a Nazi and say that I don’t deserve to live, but I just hung around with these right wing guys. I didn’t kill anybody, I didn’t stab anybody, I didn’t bully anybody, I just made some stupid mistakes, and I am not a Nazi. I never was a racist or any of this horrible stuff.
"People just hate me, and yes, I wish it wasn’t like that, I regret that I have made people feel like that about me. But at the same time, I didn’t do any horrible stuff to anyone else. I did horrible stuff to myself; I took drugs and I almost died from my drug addiction, but I never beat anyone on the streets because of who they are, that they are another colour or from another country.
"I never killed anyone or bullied anyone. Never! I don’t want to live my life full of regrets, but I do regret that there have been times when I have been wrong, you know what I mean?”
There have been other controversies. In a now-deleted 2023 Instagram post titled 4 Rules Of Real Man, Alex said: "a real man eats woman pussy, he likes”, which saw him accused of homophobia. Alex posted a response, stating: "If you don’t like that I’m a straight man and have traditional family values, please unfollow me! 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."
An additional comment stating that he hates "propaganda in any form, especially when trying to brainwash children" drew accusations of transphobia, with some outlets connecting the "brainwash children" line to common anti-trans rhetoric. We also addressed those incidents with Alex himself.
There are also accusations of homophobia and anti-trans rhetoric that have been aimed at you
“I don’t get the hate. I posted once on my social media about children being brainwashed, but I don’t like, in general, young people being brainwashed by religious stuff and by military stuff. I do not mind if you are gay or trans, that is not my business; that is your business and I support your lifestyle.
"I was talking about how I didn’t like, as a parent, my child going to school and being force-fed religious education or be[ing] told about the ‘glorious military’. Right now in Russia, a lot of kids, like 9-year-old kids, 8-year-olds, they’re getting pushed so much military stuff...I don’t like it!
"I think it’s bad, the war [with Ukraine] is bad, in general. I understand that history shows us that war is part of human nature, I get it, but I don’t want to be involved in that and I don’t want my child to be told that war is good and that he needs to be patriotic and die for your country and that you owe your country. No, no, no! This is my child and I want to educate him morally myself. This was what I was saying, and it became the LGBTQ+ people saying that I was homophobic. But I’m not. It’s funny, because in Russia there is this mentality where they are very homophobic, a lot of Russian people, and I actually grew up hearing some of that in my family.
"I remember when I was 16, 17 years old, I was sitting with some of my family at breakfast and they were discussing that they had a problem with some gay people in a club and members of my family said, ‘Fuck these guys, they are gay, they are disgusting!’ I said, ‘Hold on, what would you say if I turned around and told you I was gay?’ I was told that I would not be a part of this family. What?! I was so angry, I told them I was ashamed that they said that... and then people call me homophobic!
"I have a critical mindset. I ask myself, before I judge something or somebody, a lot of questions. But these people [online] are not asking themselves any questions; they see something and, bang, they fucking believe in it or create some image. That is their business. It’s very funny; sometimes in my surrounding I see homophobic people in this music scene, and the LGBTQ+ community say, ‘Wow! This is a sick band!’ but they are literally homophobic! Not all the members, but some of them. I don’t know...it’s stupid.”
If you’ve truly been misrepresented about all of these things then that must hurt you, deep down?
“I don’t know, it is something I’ve had to get used to. I don’t mind. I can’t let it bother me.”
Following Slaughter To Prevail's Bloodstock set, Alex posted a video of the band's performance, seemingly addressing those who have accused the band of transphobia and claiming to have heard rumours of apparent protests and boycotts of their set.
Text accompanying the post read: "I apologize to the trans community for the fact that we played Bloodstock. It was completely sold out and people actually enjoyed our performance."
The post prompted fierce debate in the comments, with some demanding the singer apologise to the trans community for real. Eventually, a fan pointed out that although he was not necessarily trying to be hateful, Alex's posts could be used to cyber-bully vulnerable individuals.
"I never think that way, actually," he admitted in a video post soon after. "I act that way cause I can defend myself...a lot of people might get bullied because of my posts or how I act and a lot of people might attack them and I don't want that. I don't want it at all and I didn't think about that."
He then deleted the original post. You can read Metal Hammer's review of Slaughter To Prevail's Bloodstock headline set here.
