Slaughter To Prevail guitarist denies that the band have Nazi beliefs, but admits the controversy around them is their “own fault”

Slaughter To Prevail guitarist Jack Simmons claims that the band do not have Nazi sympathies, despite frontman Alex Terrible once having a tattoo of a symbol appropriated by far-right hate groups.

Simmons co-founded his Russian-American deathcore outfit with Terrible in 2014. In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, the guitarist addresses the ongoing controversy around his singer, who had a tattoo depicting the Black Sun on his right elbow before covering it up.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Black Sun, or sonnenrad, is “one of a number of ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis in their attempt to invent an idealised ‘Aryan/Norse’ heritage”.

However, the organisation argues that the symbol is not a surefire sign of white supremacist beliefs, because “sonnenrad imagery is used by many cultures around the world”.

Simmons admits that the discourse around Terrible and the band is their “own fault” and a result of “bad decisions in the past”. However, he adds that they don’t endorse “radical shit” and claims that the context of the Black Sun is different in Eastern Europe and Russia, where Terrible is from.

Simmons says: “I would say, actually, it is our own fault, of bad decisions in the past. And as far as navigating it, there’s going to always be a group of people, we can’t change their minds, and we’re not really out here to change their minds. We just want to make music.

“If you actually come to our shows, there’s a lot of love, there’s no fights. We don’t want any radical shit or people or anything to be pulled into our show.”

He continues: “It's about connecting, for us music is about connecting people, that’s why we’re talking right now, that’s why everyone’s here right now. I think that can be lost when all this shit goes a bit crazy online.

“I’m not going to speak on Alex, I know he had a different past. All I would say is that, in that part of the world, there’s context. There’s a lot of context about symbolism.”

Simmons then claims that his girlfriend’s grandmother lives in Ukraine, and that she has carpets in her house displaying the Black Sun symbol.

“I would tell her [Simmons’ girlfriend], ‘You know, that’s a Nazi symbol, right? It’s racist,’” the guitarist continues. “And she laughed at me like I’m being disrespectful, she’s like, ‘Are you saying my grandma’s a Nazi? She was under Nazi occupation. She’s not a Nazi. This is our symbol. It means heritage and family,’ but that’s lost.”

Terrible spoke about his now-covered Black Sun tattoo extensively during an appearance on the Downbeat podcast in September. The singer denied having far-right beliefs, but admitted that he got the tattoo while associating with “right-wing guys” who were “very strong physically, smart, don’t drink”.

He added that the tattoo was a symbol of his interest in esoterica and admitted that he got it covered not because of a change in his views or associations, but as a way to protect his musical career. He claimed he didn’t appreciate the tattoo’s offensiveness until “three or four” years after he covered it.

During the same podcast, Terrible talked about a controversial photo of him wearing a hoodie from White Rex – a clothing brand owned by Russian fighter and far-right activist Denis Kapustin, whom the Anti-Defamation League have labelled a neo-Nazi – but stops short of apologising.

He does, however, express remorse for posting a photo of himself holding a rifle while wearing a helmet once worn by a member of the SS.

Neither Simmons’ Ultimate Guitar interview nor Terrible’s Downbeat interview have broached the topic of Terrible’s other tattoo depicting a symbol appropriated by the Nazis. In 2020, the singer published a YouTube video revealing that he had a tattoo of an Odal rune on his left foot. Slaughter To Prevail sold masks featuring the rune in 2023.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Odal rune dates back to pre-Roman Europe but was adopted by the Nazis “as part of their attempt to reconstruct a mythic ‘Aryan’ past”. In 2016, the US’s National Socialist Movement made the Odal rune its official logo in place of the swastika, with commander Jeff Schoep saying the symbol would help the group “reach more of the public”. It is unclear whether or not Terrible has had his Odal rune tattoo covered.

Slaughter To Prevail are signed to Virgin-affiliated heavy metal label Sumerian and enjoyed chart success with latest album Grizzly earlier this year. It reached number seven on the UK Rock & Metal Albums chart and 12 on the French Rock & Metal Albums chart.

Slaughter To Prevail will tour Europe in the New Year and will headline Bloodstock Open Air in Derbyshire in August, alongside Judas Priest and Lamb Of God.