Drummers

[hibernal_dream]

To me, metal drummers don't seem to do enough at the kit. Now I'm not a drummer, I know fuckall about percussion, but just sitting there at the kit simulating the beat of the song or playing ultra-fast blastbeats isn't enough to keep me interested. Black metal are generally the worst culprits in this area, with death drummers putting a bit extra. Why? Don't just fucking sit there keeping the beat you lazy fuckers - Alternate your fills. Change the beat. Speed up/slow down. If I wanted a metro(g)nome as a drummer I'd hire Lars.

Anata and Mastodon are two bands that destroy at the kit.

Name others.

 

[SuicideMachine]

Tool!

well they dont really destroy the kit, but make love to it, lol

Converge

not as technical as some other hardcore bands but still very punishing

Dillinger Escape Plan, of course must be mentioned

anything with Gene Hoglan has great drumming

there are some exceptions to "black metal lazy fuckers" though, namely Trym from emperor who has one of the best sounding kits ive ever heard

Dave Lombardo is an obvious choice...one of the best ever

The guy from Meshuggah (thomas haake?) has some of the most technical drumming ive ever heard

thats all i can think of from the top of my head!

 

[Henrik Main]

Black metal are generally the worst culprits in this area, with death drummers putting a bit extra. Why? Don't just fucking sit there keeping the beat you lazy fuckers - Alternate your drumrolls.
Name others.

Oh dear. Oh dear. Check out the following CDs, and I'm sure you'll change your opinion.

Mayhem - Wolf's Lair Abyss and Grand Declaration Of War (Hellhammer is amazing)
Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk, IX Equilibrium, Emperial Live Ceremony and Prometheus (Trym = Genius)
Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, Death Cult Armageddon
Absu - Tara
Behemoth - Satanica, Thelema 6, Zos Kia Cultus
Borknagar - Empiricism
Tidfall - Instinct Gate
Zyklon - World Ov Worms
Crytopsy - All albums (Flo is a machine!)
Dying Fetus - Destroy The Opposition
Immolation - Close To A World Below
Nile - All albums

These albums provide some excellent drum work, I assure you

 

[Rottuated]

Cryptopsy - Flo is fucking amazing on drums
Death - (Gene Hoglan, Richard Christy, and Sean Reinhart destroy)

And I've never understood why people think Tool have awesome drumming. I checked them out and Danny Carry is not as good as people make him out to be.

 

[Korgath]

Tool - Danny Carey has always been on eof my favourite drummers.
Cryptopsy - Flo Mournier is simply a god!
Meshuggah - Thomas Haake = God of poly rythmics.
Aghora/Cynic - Sean Reinert really has some great things going on! So does Richard Komatz (Aghora) although not as amazing as Reinert

 

[SculptedCold]

Urm, Meshuggah isn't the technical band y'all think them to be. They're always playing in 4/4, they just make their riffery and beats move amorphously across the bars instead of staying inside them, and it makes them sound a lot more complex than they are. If you listen closely to Thomas Haake, especially the cymbal work, it's clear he's keeping a simple and constant beat most of the time.

As for drumming anyhoo, i've always been in awe at almost any drummers! I just can't comprehend the kind of co-ordination they must have to have to do some of the stuff they do.

 

[Hammer of Might]

As other people have recommended: One word...

CRYPTOPSY

 

[[0hr]Sunlapse]

but Hakke is playing 2 different time signatures at a time. hi hat/cymbal - bass in 4/4, and whatever else in some other crazy time. thats why they are referred to as polyrhythmic.... he's syncopating himself with.... himself. personally i think thats a lot harder that blasting all the time....

 

[DiscipleOfPlato]

I'm surprised someone has yet to mention Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater. The man is an octopus, and apart from Neil Peart, I'll go as far to say that he is currently without a doubt the best drummer on the planet. He possesses a hell of an ego, but with how incredible he plays, GOOD!

Oh, and Danny Carey is also an extremely reputable drummer. Pay close attention and you'll see that his fills are FAR from boring, and very complex.

Some other great metal drummers include, off the top of my head, Nicko McBrain, Mark Zonder, Scott Rockenfield, Jason Rullo, Richard Christy, and Steve Wacholz, among others.

 

[SculptedCold]

but Hakke is playing 2 different time signatures at a time. hi hat/cymbal - bass in 4/4, and whatever else in some other crazy time. thats why they are referred to as polyrhythmic.... he's syncopating himself with.... himself. personally i think thats a lot harder that blasting all the time....

It's debatable. If you're keeping a constant 4/4 beat with one of your limbs, as Haake is usually doing, it's not difficult to concentrate on doing something else. What's more admirable in drummers I think is playing stylistically interesting rhythms and changing tempo a lot...neither of which Haake does much of, which is why I personally don't think he's a very interesting drummer anyway.

 

[speed]

That is the problem with all the Dream Theater guys; ego, they all wish to prove they are virtousos within the context of their songs. Most of the time, this doesnt work. My opinion of course.

The mastodon drummer is excellent.

Oh anyone mention Hellhammer- hes pretty darn good, and Ive always liked Herrera, he is flawless, almost too flawless.

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

Darkane
Candiria
Symphony X
Aghora, Cynic, (newer) Death

 

[BRUTAL SENSATION]

Matt Racca - Alarum... Heaps of variety in his drumming and very technical too bad hardly anyone has heard of em outside aus...

Also Dave Hayley - Psycroptic he moves around the kit like a mad cunt!!! and does some crazy cymbol work...i filmed their last gig, i was right behind the drums filming him my jaw was on the floor the whole time amazing stuff!!!

 

[SculptedCold]

Also Dave Hayley - Psycroptic he moves around the kit like a mad cunt!!! and does some crazy cymbol work...i filmed their last gig, i was right behind the drums filming him my jaw was on the floor the whole time amazing stuff!!!

Awesome man! You're right, he sounds awesome....I think he sounds even better than the comparable Kevin Talley.

Any conceivable future in which you might upload the vid somewhere??

 

[anonymousnick2001]

I thought part of the drummer's job was to keep the beat.

That's how I play, anyway. Safe, repetitive, yet still powerful beats, with fills to mark transitions in musical ideas or between cadences, verse/chorus, breakdown/solo/song, verse/coda/outro, stuff like that.

Can I fucking shred? Hell yes. I can rip it up like the dude from Mastodon or Gene Hoglan or Igor Cavalera, but it's a matter of fitting with the other musicians in the band. I don't want to suffer from Portnoy syndrome.

 

[SculptedCold]

or Tony Laureano syndrome. =)

 

[andrew_plamondon]

Steve Flynn, from Atheist, is a friggin' good drummer, listen to Unquestionable Presence...
Gorguts' drummers, from the 2 last albums especially, are really good.
Coprofago's drummer seems good ( I'm not a drummer myself, so he might be bad as well, but I don't think so ).
Spiral Architect's drummer ( Asgeir Mickelson I think ), he's a good drummer too.
Bobby Jarzombek from Spastic Ink, and that other guy in Watchtower.

 

[SculptedCold]

heh, i've almost given-up listing drummers I think are good. There's just so many out there.....

 

[hibernal_dream]

I thought part of the drummer's job was to keep the beat.

I think drummers will eventually become obsolete, in metal anyway. If they are there to keep the beat, why do you need them? Look at classical music, they don't have some moronic sweaty drummer at the back pounding furiously to keep the beat. Anyway, can't the guitarists count it out in their head? Its not that hard. 1,2,3,4.

 

[SculptedCold]

Yes.....plus, when you think about it, so much metal is played so fast, and with such abrupt changes, that the guitarists have to be as masterful and precise at keeping correct time as the drummer; the demands of the beat on the guitarists, and the resultant skills of the guitarists, largely counteracts the true necessity of the drummer. But still......it'd be hard to imagine metal without drums. Even if they're not so much seen as the time-based backbone of a band so much anymore, the drums are still a large aesthetic to the metal sound.