Photos and Review by Jim LaValley
The North American Tour landed at the Worcester Palladium on April 15, 2025, with Slaughter to Prevail headlining a sold-out night of modern deathcore heavy music. The bill featured Attila and Whitechapel as support, and the Palladium’s 2,100-capacity main room was loaded wall to wall before the headliner ever took the stage. This was, without question, one of the heaviest shows I have seen in recent memory. All photos from this night are featured in the accompanying gallery.
The floor was packed early and it stayed that way all night. The sightlines are good from most positions, and the stage is close enough that no one feels disconnected from the performance. Especially with the volume of the show (approx. 127dB), crowd surfing, mosh pits, and the wall of death.
The Palladium leans toward a mid-sized room, but sold out, it compresses into something far more intense—sound hits harder, pits form quicker, and there’s little separation between stage and audience.
Attila opened the night and did the job an opener should do. The Atlanta, Georgia metalcore band founded in 2005 by frontman Chris “Fronz” Fronzak brought their party-driven metalcore and nu metal hybrid to a room that was already full and ready. Loud, direct, and crowd-focused, Attila set an immediate tone. Their most recent studio album is *Concrete Throne* (2026, SharpTone Records).
By the time Whitechapel took the stage, the venue was really packed and rocking. They opened with a setlist staple that quickly stabilized the chaos into controlled aggression. Phil Bozeman’s vocals carried both clarity and weight, while Brandon Zackey’s drumming remained consistent and sharp throughout. The triple-guitar presence (Ben Savage, Alex Wade, Zach Householder) added density without muddiness, and Gabe Crisp’s bass grounded the mix. The crowd had a ton of fun and loved every minute Whitechapel was on stage, it was a non-stop crowd surfacing event.
Slaughter to Prevail closed the night and the crowd erupted the moment they hit the stage. The band formed in 2014 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, built around the sonic partnership of vocalist Aleksandr “Alex Terrible” Shikolai and British guitarist/songwriter Jack Simmons, who connected online before ever meeting in person. The current lineup features Dmitry Mamedov (rhythm guitar), Mike Petrov (bass), and Evgeny Novikov (drums). The band relocated to Florida in 2022 and is signed to Sumerian Records. Their third studio album, *Grizzly* (July 2025), served as the backdrop for the night — and fittingly so, as two grizzly bears flanked the stage on either side. Alex Terrible’s trademark guttural roar was on full display; it is a vocal technique that has few equals in the genre. Off the stage, Terrible is known for bare-knuckle fighting — by choice — and wrestling with wild animals, including grizzlies and tigers. He is set to perform May 6, 2026 and then compete at Blood4Blood. The deathcore and nu metalcore genre combination the band delivers is flat-out crushing live.
The latest material from both Whitechapel and Slaughter to Prevail fits naturally into their live pacing, emphasizing groove alongside brutality. Tour support was well-balanced: Attila energized early, Whitechapel tightened the focus, and Slaughter to Prevail escalated it to a peak. The crowd response remained high across all three sets, and when Slaughter to Prevail took the stage, the crowd erupted into total Chaos !!
If you want to have a night of heavy nu metalcore music, don’t miss this tour!!