Russian deathcore band Slaughter to Prevail and Japanese kawaii metal superstars BABYMETAL have released a joint single. Both groups recently performed at Knotfest Australia.
Titled “Song 3”, the track will feature on Slaughter to Prevail’s upcoming album GRIZZLY and on BABYMETAL’s forthcoming record METAL FORTH.
“Song 3” combines Slaughter to Prevail’s harsh vocals with BABYMETAL’s melodic choruses. It was written by Slaughter to Prevail’s Jack Simmons and Alex Terrible in the UK and Russia, then sent to BABYMETAL, who built lyrics and vocal parts around the theme of “3”. Trivium’s Matt Heafy contributes a shamisen part.
The music video follows a younger version of Alex Terrible who, after bullying and isolation, gains confidence with guidance from BABYMETAL.
The release follows BABYMETAL’s “from me to u” featuring Poppy and Slaughter to Prevail’s “Russian Grizzly in America”, both of which have attracted millions of streams within weeks.
Slaughter to Prevail have two studio albums so far, 2017’s Misery Sermon and 2021’s Kostolom, carving out a name as modern deathcore leaders. Their upcoming album Grizzly, which they discussed with Rolling Stone AU/NZ during their recent visit, promises to be their most complete work yet.
“With the last album, Kostolom, it was half and half,” Aleksandr Shikolai explained. “Half of it were songs I was very happy with, but the rest of it was not that good. We didn’t pay so much attention to small details when we worked on the songs but for this album, we did everything we wanted and it is much better for it.”
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The album began to come together in 2022, and features songs they describe as simply having “powerful, stupid energy that come from the heart” (“Grizzly”, “Banditos”), while others are more personal to Shikolai, now he lives away from Russia.
“We have this song on the album called ‘Родина’ or ‘Rodina’, which means ‘motherland’ in Russian. I started to write it because people were attacking Russia. Of course, the situation is very fucking bad. It is. My country is my home though. I love my home.”
“From the musical side, the instrumental side of the new album… I’m English, so I’m learning about Russian culture,” Slaughter to Prevail creative partner, British musician Jack Simmon added. “It’s been very interesting. In metal and extreme music, we have the opportunity to showcase culture; not the culture you read about with the war, but the culture itself.”
Slaughter to Prevail and BABYMETAL’s “Song 3” is out now.
