{"id":136479,"date":"2025-10-21T17:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/136479\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T17:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:24:08","slug":"slaughter-to-prevail-guitarist-denies-that-the-band-have-nazi-beliefs-but-admits-the-controversy-around-them-is-their-own-fault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/136479\/","title":{"rendered":"Slaughter To Prevail guitarist denies that the band have Nazi beliefs, but admits the controversy around them is their \u201cown fault\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Slaughter To Prevail<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Simmons co-founded his Russian-American deathcore outfit with Terrible in 2014. In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

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According to the Anti-Defamation League<\/a>, the Black Sun, or sonnenrad, is \u201cone of a number of ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis in their attempt to invent an idealised \u2018Aryan\/Norse\u2019 heritage\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, the organisation argues that the symbol is not a surefire sign of white supremacist beliefs, because \u201csonnenrad imagery is used by many cultures around the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Simmons admits that the discourse around Terrible and the band is their \u201cown fault\u201d and a result of \u201cbad decisions in the past\u201d. However, he adds that they don\u2019t endorse \u201cradical shit\u201d and claims that the context of the Black Sun is different in Eastern Europe and Russia, where Terrible is from.<\/p>\n

Simmons says: \u201cI would say, actually, it is our own fault, of bad decisions in the past. And as far as navigating it, there\u2019s going to always be a group of people, we can\u2019t change their minds, and we\u2019re not really out here to change their minds. We just want to make music.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you actually come to our shows, there\u2019s a lot of love, there\u2019s no fights. We don\u2019t want any radical shit or people or anything to be pulled into our show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cIt’s about connecting, for us music is about connecting people, that\u2019s why we\u2019re talking right now, that\u2019s why everyone\u2019s here right now. I think that can be lost when all this shit goes a bit crazy online.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019s context. There\u2019s a lot of context about symbolism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons then claims that his girlfriend\u2019s grandmother lives in Ukraine, and that she has carpets in her house displaying the Black Sun symbol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would tell her [Simmons\u2019 girlfriend], \u2018You know, that\u2019s a Nazi symbol, right? It\u2019s racist,\u2019\u201d the guitarist continues. \u201cAnd she laughed at me like I\u2019m being disrespectful, she\u2019s like, \u2018Are you saying my grandma\u2019s a Nazi? She was under Nazi occupation. She\u2019s not a Nazi. This is our symbol. It means heritage and family,\u2019 but that\u2019s lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terrible spoke about his now-covered Black Sun tattoo extensively<\/a> 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 \u201cright-wing guys\u201d who were \u201cvery strong physically, smart, don\u2019t drink\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t appreciate the tattoo\u2019s offensiveness until \u201cthree or four\u201d years after he covered it.<\/p>\n

During the same podcast, Terrible talked about a controversial photo of him wearing a hoodie from White Rex \u2013 a clothing brand owned by Russian fighter and far-right activist Denis Kapustin, whom the Anti-Defamation League have labelled a neo-Nazi<\/a> \u2013 but stops short of apologising.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Neither Simmons\u2019 Ultimate Guitar interview nor Terrible\u2019s Downbeat interview have broached the topic of Terrible\u2019s other tattoo depicting a symbol appropriated by the Nazis. In 2020, the singer published a YouTube video<\/a> revealing that he had a tattoo of an Odal rune on his left foot. Slaughter To Prevail sold masks featuring the rune<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Odal rune dates back to pre-Roman Europe but was adopted by the Nazis \u201cas part of their attempt to reconstruct a mythic \u2018Aryan\u2019 past\u201d<\/a>. In 2016, the US\u2019s National Socialist Movement made the Odal rune its official logo in place of the swastika<\/a>, with commander Jeff Schoep saying the symbol would help the group \u201creach more of the public\u201d. It is unclear whether or not Terrible has had his Odal rune tattoo covered.<\/p>\n

Slaughter To Prevail are signed to Virgin-affiliated heavy metal<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Slaughter To Prevail will tour Europe in the New Year and will headline Bloodstock Open Air in Derbyshire in August, alongside Judas Priest<\/a> and Lamb Of God<\/a>.<\/p>\n