Slaughter to Prevail Turn Brixton Into a Warzone
- Desh Kapur
- 51 minutes ago
- 3 min read
O2 Brixton Academy. – 16TH January 2026
WORDS / IMAGES ALAN BRYCE
The O2 Academy Brixton felt less like a venue and more like a pressure chamber. Long before doors opened, queues wrapped around the block, black-clad bodies braced for what was being billed — without exaggeration — as one of the most brutal nights London would see this year. Inside, the air buzzed with a familiar kind of dread and excitement: the promise of total sonic annihilation.
This wasn’t just a headline show for Slaughter to Prevail — it was a celebration of extreme metal at its most uncompromising. A stacked bill turned the night into a full-spectrum assault, charting the genre’s past, present and pulverising future.
For UK fans, the return of Annotations of an Autopsy was a moment worth savouring. Reforming exclusively for these dates, the British deathcore pioneers tore through a frantic four-song set like a band possessed. It was short, savage and soaked in nostalgia, paying violent homage to the genre’s roots while reminding everyone just how heavy the UK scene once was — and still can be.
Suicide Silence followed with Californian precision and chaos in equal measure. Veterans of the genre, they played like a band with nothing to prove and everything to destroy. Fan favourites ‘Disengage’ and ‘Fuck Everything’ detonated across the floor, igniting instant circle pits, while their razor-sharp seven-song set stayed brutally efficient: no filler, no mercy.
Then came Dying Fetus, delivering a masterclass in technical brutality. Their set was punishing but pristine, a reminder of why they remain untouchable within brutal death metal circles. Tracks like ‘Wrong One to Fuck With’, ‘Grotesque Impalement’ and the notoriously titled ‘Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog’ landed with surgical precision, leaving the crowd battered and visibly stunned.
By the time Slaughter to Prevail emerged, Brixton was already at boiling point. Formed in 2014 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, the band have risen meteorically, carving out a reputation as deathcore’s most ferocious modern force. Frontman Alex Terrible — part vocalist, part myth — commands attention with guttural lows that sound genuinely inhuman, while guitarist Jack Simmons anchors the chaos with riffs built for maximum destruction. From early releases like Chapters of Misery to the hulking force of Grizzly, their evolution has been relentless.
Opening with ‘Voron’ and ‘Bonebreaker’, Slaughter to Prevail wasted no time asserting dominance. A brief technical hiccup did nothing to slow momentum — if anything, it sharpened the crowd’s appetite. ‘Russian Grizzly in America’ sent the pit into overdrive, before a roar erupted as Slipknot’s VMan joined the band onstage for ‘Viking’, a standout from Grizzly that felt even more colossal live.
‘Bratva’ unleashed walls of death that bordered on apocalyptic, while ‘Koschei’ nodded back to Kostolom before the band launched headfirst into a final run of new material. Tracks like ‘Kid of Darkness’ and closer ‘Behelit’ proved that Grizzly isn’t just heavier — it’s smarter, tighter and built to dominate rooms this size and far bigger.
Every song hit harder than the last. The crowd screamed every lyric back, bodies colliding in total abandon. This wasn’t passive consumption — it was full participation. A warzone, willingly entered.
The encore was inevitable. The opening notes of ‘Demolisher’ sent Brixton into complete meltdown, Alex Terrible’s infamous mic-less roar slicing through the chaos like a battle cry. It was a spine-chilling reminder of why Slaughter to Prevail’s live reputation borders on legend.
Production-wise, the night was monstrous: blinding strobes, smoke cannons, pyro and a sound mix that balanced clarity with sheer, concussive force. Every breakdown landed like a sledgehammer. Chants of “Alex” echoed through the venue. Absolutely unhinged.
Slaughter to Prevail’s London date wasn’t just a gig — it was a statement. Proof that deathcore, in its most brutal and unapologetic form, is not only alive, but thriving. Backed by a flawless support lineup, they didn’t just headline Brixton — they conquered it. For those inside, this wasn’t just another show. It was history being written in bruises.
Set List – Slaughter to Prevail
BoneBreaker
Banditos
Russian Grizzly in America
Viking – With ‘V Man’ of Slipknot
Imdead
Babayka
Bratva
Baba Yaga
Koschei
Conflict
Kid Of Darkness
Behelit
Encore
Demolisher
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