Lopez Vs Portnoy

[TheMindzI]

Lopez.. great style (fuck I just love standing there watching him drumming all around... aahh.. he rules).. and some excellent ideas. And he gets better and better in time (although he kicked some serious ass in MAYH).

I think Portnoy has already reached his maximum and I can't see anything "clever" (drumming-wise) in his whole career with DT. It's pretty much the same style. IMO that is.. (and yes I hate DT but I DO believe Portnoy is a good drummer and Petrucci a good guitarist, but they certainly are NOT "the best").


PS: Drummers like Hoglan and Christy are way ahead... Hellhammer is a really good musician as well

 

[DreamingofUr]

Laureano's sound is too epic for me. I really don't know why I like his style so much but I seems to be very raw and emotional. To tell you the truth I don't pay much attention to anything else when listening to Nile except Tony and those funky Egyptian lyrics. Their guitar work is exceptional but that man just takes over the record. Hellhammer is great but his work on Mirrors can't compare to Shrines. I feel Hoglan is way better then Hallhammer but he doesn't seem to play with much emotion. The Blessed Dead!!!

 

[Speak]

People seem to forget about Sean Reinert.

 

[Black_paragon]

People seem to forget about Sean Reinert.

he ain't no gene hoglan, but his control denied stuff rules.

 

[Staffan]

Tony royster junior

 

[Natural Born Chaos]

As someone else said, neither of these drummers can hold a candle to dozens of non-metal drummers--at least in the vein of over-all ability and versatility. However, these two can probably play their respective style better than most non-metal drummers, which I guess does make them better in some respect.

Don't even get me started on Portnoy, though. He is one of the most generic-sounding drummers, ever. He uses a huge kit so that he can play a bunch of shit, so that you won't notice his lack of creativity. Other than that, he seems like an OK guy and I guess he's at least a better drummer than most KIDS (with the exception of Tony Royster, Jr. as the previous replier mentioned).

As for Lopez, he's decent and fits Opeth well--but I think he's been getting a little too antsy lately. Maybe his confidence is rising, but since Deliverance came out it sounds to me like he's been over-playing a bit, especially live.

 

[Natural Born Chaos]

Black_paragon:

Oh, and a bit of advice: try taking out your third (?, that first one looks like it might be some sort of conga though, so I guess technically your second) rack tom and replacing it with your ride cymbal. I think you'd find it much more comfortable.

 

[GabrielKnight]

This is unrelated to either Portoy or Lopez, but I'm curious what do you guys thing of the Porcupine Tree's drummer? I saw them with Opeth the other day and I really liked his drumming, but I have no clue about playing drums, so I don't know if he's really good, I just liked what I heard, he seemed to be precise and technical.

-GK

 

[chaveta]

i LOVE PT's drummer on "in absentia' only PT album i own... he does a lot of snare rolls in his stuff...right? heh .. its totally bitching

 

[Staffan]

i LOVE PT's drummer on "in absentia' only PT album i own... he does a lot of snare rolls in his stuff...right? heh .. its totally bitching

Yep, that's gavin harrison
He's great, the drumming really fits the music and he doesn't show off.

 

[chaveta]

yeah its totally on point, the man is smooth

 

[batmura]

Okay.. I've read some interesting stuff here..mostly biased. but I'm definitely UNBIASED here. I've been listening to DT and Liquid Tension Experiment (and a couple other of Portnoy's side projects) far longer than Opeth. AND I drum. I have all of DT's CD's and their DVD. I even own a couple of Portnoy's instructional videos. I also own most of Opeth's albums (working on getting the first couple). Although Mike Portnoy is more technical (odd time signatures, better schooled, quicker hands, more proper), I'm going to give this one to Lopez. He plays with a lot more of emotion and feeling. I also enjoy his style more. His drumming is much more creative, progressive, and epic also, as where Portnoy will just take the same beat throughout the song and twist and play around with it. Dream Theater is too orchestrated. No improvisation whatsoever. Both are great bands though. I could go on and on.. but i will shush..

DT too orchestrated? No improvisation? Well the LTE albums were both recorded at one ago and they were improvised from beginning to end. You being a drummer and underestimating Portnoy's drumming sounds weird. There's no denying that technically Portnoy is ahead of Lopez, but it's Lopez's amazing rhythm work that makes his style so beautiful. But as far as technicality is concerned, it's easily Mike Portnoy. Mike could play anything Lopez has ever played, but vice versa? I don't think so. Then, he doesn't have to. Lopez has his own thing going on and that's what Opeth needs. A drummer like Lopez. Not Portnoy.

 

[DreamingofUr]

I guess nobody likes Nile. Kinda feel stupid about bringing that guy up. Someone mention Shrines! Jeez...I mean come on. PT's drummer? I love PT but their drums are not worth mentioning. TALK ABOUT NILE DAMN IT! THE BLESSED DEAD! EVER HERE THAT DAMN SONG? EVER HERE HIS DRUMMING ON THE TITLE TRACK? DO I HAVE TO POST A LINK TO HIS STUFF? BECAUSE I DONT KNOW ONE!

 

[chaveta]

yeah yeah shrines is just 'ok' but Katacombs was better

 

[narcisco]

The cliched response about : did you notice the rhythm section; what !!!!
Lopez grooves. Portnoy is technical metal.
Lopez lets the music breath. Portnoy has to keep up with Pertrucci.
We have to basically think about tempo's and technicality.
No Opeth song comes close to the technicality of Dream Theater.
And that in the esscence is why Opeth grooves and Lopez rocks,
Sure there are double kick passages but we do not notice them that much
Why because the song comes first.
Dream Theater, the riff comes first, or is basically a lot more obvious.

Lopez interprets the song. He does not write it unlike the at times clinical yet brilliant Portnoy compositions.
He at times in the heavier sections reminds me of early Sepultura, then becomes a progressive man all his own.

 

[Staffan]

I guess nobody likes Nile. Kinda feel stupid about bringing that guy up. Someone mention Shrines! Jeez...I mean come on. PT's drummer? I love PT but their drums are not worth mentioning. TALK ABOUT NILE DAMN IT! THE BLESSED DEAD! EVER HERE THAT DAMN SONG? EVER HERE HIS DRUMMING ON THE TITLE TRACK? DO I HAVE TO POST A LINK TO HIS STUFF? BECAUSE I DONT KNOW ONE!

Yes, his drumming is fast and aggressive but well... there are many drummers in metal who's are.

 

[Dev]

Laureano is a monster

 

[chaveta]

has anyone heard LYKATHEA AFLAME's drummer?? i think his name is Tomá Corn ... he's fucking fast as hell too

 

[Black_paragon]

Black_paragon:

Oh, and a bit of advice: try taking out your third (?, that first one looks like it might be some sort of conga though, so I guess technically your second) rack tom and replacing it with your ride cymbal. I think you'd find it much more comfortable.

urrr.... no.

I think I'm a bit beyond guildhall grade 1 and not near enough the 70 year old cigar chomping trad jazz stage yet, thankyou very much. Is that supposed to be an insult or are you just a beginner/trad jazz afficionado? That small thing you see is called a djembe, used mostly for hand percussion but sounds sweet if you throw it into a few fills every now and again. Actually I've rejigged everything to be more comfy now (its on a rack so rejigging takes a while and I was putting it off... feels better now though, for sure. I'll update my sig when I can be bothered, look out for it.

Also, the argument of 'mike could play anything lopez can play' is untrue. Theres no fucking way he could attempt the rolling bass drum (ie april ethereal) thats one of lopez's 'signature' moves so to speak. There is nothing I've ever attempted by portnoy that I haven't mastered - I can get through the dance of eternity without any hitches, the problem is that there's no feel to it, which makes it easier to learn, its like memorising a pin code or the words to a song. There is so much lopez I've tackled and failed miserably (deliverance being the most obvious, but even damnation has its tricky parts) because the feel is so hard to replicate.

*look for updated sig soon*

 

[Schraiber]

I can't even imagine this being a debate. To me, Portnoy simply blows Lopez out of the water. I've never gone "Wow, that was great" or anything when listening to Martin's drumming, and I don't see what anyone sees in the drumming on Deliverance, it seems to have the worst drum performance of any Opeth album... But Portnoy is simply spectacular, and he plays stuff that sounds good. After seeing Dream Theater live a couple days ago you could tell Portnoy was really having a good time, and playing all their stuff with ease, where as Marty is just kinda there... not into it. However, I actually like Opeth as a band much much more than Dream Theater. Martin is just a very weak drummer, to me. He fits the music but nothing more.