Slaughter To Prevail‘s Jack Simmons has addressed the swirling controversy surrounding his bandmate Alex Terrible‘s use of Nazi-associated imagery, claiming the deathcore outfit has no far-right leanings – just a history of “bad decisions”.
In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, Simmons – who co-founded the Russian-American band with vocalist Alex Terrible in 2014 – spoke candidly about the backlash that’s trailed the group in recent years. At the centre of the storm is Terrible‘s now-covered Black Sun tattoo, or the Sonnenrad as it’s also called.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) the symbol is “one of a number of ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis in their attempt to invent an idealized ‘Aryan/Norse’ heritage”. Despite this, the ADL concedes the symbol’s meaning varies, with the imagery used in different cultural contexts globally.
Though it is worth noting that the Black Sun specifically originated in Nazi Germany, and that the symbol is so closely tied with Nazism that parading it around is just a bad idea no matter what you “mean” by it. It’s like people defending the Swastika, saying it was originally used inn various Eurasian religions and cultures – yeah, but it’s a Nazi thing.
Still, Simmons leans on that nuance. “It is our own fault – bad decisions in the past,” he admits. “There’s always going to be a group of people we can’t change the minds of, and we’re not really out here to do that. We just want to make music.”
“If you come to our shows, there’s a lot of love, no fights. We don’t want any radical shit or people or anything to be pulled into our show.”
He goes on to say that the cultural context of certain symbols in Eastern Europe, where Terrible is from, is often lost in Western discourse. “It’s about connecting. For us, music is about connecting people. That can get lost when all this shit goes a bit crazy online.”
And yeah, that’s fair… but also don’t put the onus on us collectively for “shit going a bit crazy online.” I’m not the one with the questionable tattoos, man. Plus saying that you’re here to just make music and get along isn’t exactly denying the accusations either. Art is political whether anyone wants it to be or not, and obfuscating the politics behind your art with a “we just wanna make music” stance is weak.
Avoiding direct comment on Terrible‘s past, Simmons instead points to a personal anecdote involving his girlfriend’s grandmother, who lives in Ukraine and owns carpets adorned with the Black Sun. “I said to [my girlfriend], ‘You know that’s a Nazi symbol, right?’ She laughed at me like I was being disrespectful. She’s like, ‘Are you saying my grandma’s a Nazi? She was under Nazi occupation. This is our symbol – it means heritage and family.’ But that’s lost [in translation].”
Woof. Maybe don’t bring that story up again, man. That’s like someone saying they know a guy who has a flag of the Confederate States because it’s their culture. Yeah, a culture of fucking losers.
Terrible previously addressed the tattoo on the Downbeat podcast in September, denying any affiliation with far-right beliefs but admitting he got the ink during a time he was surrounded by “right-wing guys” who were “strong physically, smart, don’t drink.” He said the tattoo represented his interest in esoteric ideas, not extremism.
He also admitted he didn’t realize the symbol’s offensive connotations until several years after covering it up. “I didn’t understand it at all,” he said, clarifying that the cover-up wasn’t a renouncement of ideology but a professional decision to protect the band’s future.
During the same interview, Terrible also addressed a now-deleted photo of himself wearing a hoodie from White Rex, the clothing brand founded by far-right Russian MMA fighter Denis Kapustin, who the ADL classifies as a neo-Nazi. Though Terrible doesn’t offer an apology, he does express regret for another controversial image: himself holding a rifle while donning a WWII-era helmet once worn by the SS.
Neither podcast nor interview touched on another tattoo – an Odal rune on Terrible‘s left foot – which the band featured on merchandise as recently as 2023. Like the Black Sun, the Odal rune is an ancient symbol later adopted by Nazi Germany and more recently used by modern white supremacist groups. Whether Terrible still sports the rune remains unclear.
And really, couldn’t this all be solved by covering up some tattoos and just moving on?
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