Nordin vs Lopez

[ham]

Originally posted by wach0052
I don't know much about drumming, but it sounds to me like they play two fairly different styles (this is probably partially because the music changed a lot after morningrise). Lopez is much more of a metal drummer, while nordin is/was a diverse drummer. Lopez has increased his versatility, and I really enjoyed him on deliverance. In conclusion, I don't think I can choose.

even considering this guy knows little about drumming, his answer is the best. i wholeheartedly agree.

lopez is a real death metal drummer, while nordin feels like a more dynamic jazzy drummer, nordin i doubt would be able to handle the brutality that deliverance and MAYH calls for, but who knows.

i prefer nordin's drumming, cos i hear much better death metal drumming all the time than lopez, whereas nordin strikes me as more unique

 

[Static]

I personally don't feel there is anything really 'unique' about Nordins drumming. It is very good and creative, but the most unique thing I can see in it is the fact that he goes crazy with hi-hats...and sometimes his snare drumming sounds really original and weird too, too hard to descibe but like at 9:56 or so on Twilight is My Robe, he had a really bouncy thing going. Yeh, if I could describe his drumming with one word I'd call it 'bouncy'

I thought Nordin was best on Orchid, on Morningrise I thought he wasn't quite as good...but again...this is just my preference coming through. I also agree Lopez is more a metal drummer and Nordin is more a jazzy drummer. But overall, I don't see much 'unique' about Nordins style, but I would say that it is definately creative.

 

[pac1288]

Lopez is with out a doubt better than Nordin.

The only reason Nordin's drumming had an appealing sound was due to the production. The drumming itself is really simplistic and is at the beginner level/novice. If the drum production had been bad on Orchid and Morningrise I think most of you would agree that he is nothing special at all. Its just that the damn bass drums are so damn prominant that it just sound nice and it fills in the spaces quite well.

Lopez on the other hand is more intricate and has good technique especially with the cymbals and high hat, no other drummer hits them the way Lopez does. He just a man with great technique and style and thats all there is to it.

 

[Static]

Originally posted by pac1288
Lopez is with out a doubt better than Nordin.

The only reason Nordin's drumming had an appealing sound was due to the production. The drumming itself is really simplistic and is at the beginner level/novice. If the drum production had been bad on Orchid and Morningrise I think most of you would agree that he is nothing special at all. Its just that the damn bass drums are so damn prominant that it just sound nice and it fills in the spaces quite well.

Lopez on the other hand is more intricate and has good technique especially with the cymbals and high hat, no other drummer hits them the way Lopez does. He just a man with great technique and style and thats all there is to it.

I don't really agree with anything you've said. Nordin is much much better than at novice level. His best drumming ever was on In the Mist She was Standing in my opinion...he simply rages on that song. Throughout all of Orchid and much of Morningrise he is doing things that a novice couldn't dream of doing. I drum myself at about intermediate level or so and Nordin has some things going I can't do, and I would definately say I am above novice/beginner...I think that was a pretty lame comment, try listening to what Nordin does more closely, there are many things going on, he is awesomely creative with the snare drum (particularly in the mellow sections when he rolls it) and hi-hats.

Lopez is not more intricate than Nordin. Lopez is very solid, and his use of cymbals in particular is very interesting. Nordin in my opinion is much better at using hi-hats then Lopez, his creativity with the hi-hat is possibly his most creative aspect. Once again listen to In The Mist, Nordin is simply raging on the cymbals and hi-hats producing a high speed whackity-whackity-whack that makes the song much more intense, and drives it forwards. However, Lopez is more solid, and this is important because Nordin often has fills that sound kinda crappy and badly considered. Lopez always does the right thing, while Nordin is prone to some crappy fills that sound incomplete or out of place. Also, Lopez is very skilled with the toms, he can bash each one really fast in succession making a machine-gun style pounding noise, its just in Still Life and BWP he didn't use them enough and was a bit boring.

The preceeding comparison of Nordin and Lopez does not include Deliverance, because on that release Lopez poops on anything Nordin did on Orchid and Morningrise.

 

[Morningrise]

Yeah i like the fact that the other bandmembers would actually contribute to the music...

Wow what a fucking dumb thing to say. The Martin's contribute more than Johan and Anders did. Do you even listen to the music? You think Mikael writes the drum and bass parts?

 

[Static]

Originally posted by thirdeye
lopez all the way...whoever said blackwater park drumming was boring is un-educated, it fit the music very well

Is un-educated??? Heh....sure.....

It fits the music....sure....but does nothing to stand out or be interesting. Any drumming for any band should 'fit' the music its accompanying...no shit. But just cos it 'fits' doesn't mean its interesting. BWP has 'solid' drumming, as Lopez is always solid and flawless (no sexual-ness intended here ), but thats all.

 

[pac1288]

Well that was just my opinion on Mr. Nordin, I honestly think he's not all that great, but now that I think about it I guess it was kind of a under statement labeling him a novice drummer, but what I do know is that his drum work is not very complex at all, the only thing I felt he had going for him was his prominent stable stream of double-bass and some of his snare and cymbal work, but not much else.

Like I said though this is just my personal opinion an your previous post is your opinion and I respect it.

So of course I'm not going to attack you. hahaha

 

[Static]

Originally posted by pac1288
Well that was just my opinion on Mr. Nordin, I honestly think he's not all that great, but now that I think about it I guess it was kind of a under statement labeling him a novice drummer, but what I do know is that his drum work is not very complex at all, the only thing I felt he had going for him was his prominent stable stream of double-bass and some of his snare and cymbal work, but not much else.

Like I said though this is just my personal opinion an your previous post is your opinion and I respect it.

So of course I'm not going to attack you. hahaha

Hehe, debates about drumming are what interest me most in life, not trying to attack you either...

Lopez's drum work is no more 'complex' than Nordins. In fact I think if anything it has been less complex than Nordins over the past few albums. I'm interested to know what you base this comment on (excluding Deliverance . )

Well what would you say, in BWP, is interesting about the drumming? I'm interested to know why some people seem to think it is something special.

 

[wach0052]

Originally posted by Static
Is un-educated??? Heh....sure.....

It fits the music....sure....but does nothing to stand out or be interesting. Any drumming for any band should 'fit' the music its accompanying...no shit. But just cos it 'fits' doesn't mean its interesting. BWP has 'solid' drumming, as Lopez is always solid and flawless (no sexual-ness intended here ), but thats all.

I'm gonna agree with static here. Good drumming fits the music and stands out. I like when when a drummer (or any instrument player/vocalist, for that matter) does something that makes me stop what I'm doing and say, "whoa, cool." Probably the most important function is to enhance the music, though. This is what Lopez does best on Deliverance. He makes a lot of the time signatures and cool rhythms stand out. Opeth have been doing this stuff all along, but it's easier to appreciate when Lopez does his thing well.

 

[yourdeadgroom]

I vote for Hellhammer.

 

[pac1288]

Originally posted by Static
Hehe, debates about drumming are what interest me most in life, not trying to attack you either...

Lopez's drum work is no more 'complex' than Nordins. In fact I think if anything it has been less complex than Nordins over the past few albums. I'm interested to know what you base this comment on (excluding Deliverance . )

Well what would you say, in BWP, is interesting about the drumming? I'm interested to know why some people seem to think it is something special.

Well I will have to agree with you regarding your Lopez on Blackwater park statement. I also believe that the drumming that he performed and that album was not at all special, actually to be honest it was relativley staight-forward death metal execution.

I'm referring more to MAYH, Still Life, and Deliverance(I have only heard two songs:Wreath and Deliverance) But I will exclude this ablum also.

To me the drumming on both MAYH and Still life were exceptional of course not the best I have ever heard but it suited the music well, I just feel that Lopez drumming is a bit more detailed on those two record performances in comparison to Nordin with Orchid and Morningrise. The only aspect to his drumming in those records(MAYH and Still Life) that is not executed well is the double bass; its just unstable and sloppy at times especially with Still Life which really bothered me at first, but after a while I learned to accept it, but I do acknowlede the fact that his technique is good, aswell with Nordin but I just feel that Lopez is a notch or two above Nordin. Like I mentioned earlier; the only aspect of Nordin that really impressed me was his double bass work based solely on the fact that it was outstanding if not perfect and prominent, and you see thats what intrigued me about Anders that prominent stableness. So before I had my exposure to Deliverance it was dificult for me to decide between Lopez and Anders I would be like" well Lopez's drumming is more technical but anders has that stableness that Lopez lacks" so I would tend to lean more towards Anders work just because of the great base drum performance.

What this narrows down to is that there both good drummers I just prefer Lopez over Anders.

 

[Bleakest Harvest]

I'm no drum expert or anything, but to my ears, the druming on Lopez' albums is far more interesting than on Nordin's ones.

 

[Ermz]

I was under the impression that Mikael wrote all the drum parts. If that's the case then I think it's just a matter of which drummer can play the part (I'm quite sure they both could). If it's the case of each drummer writing their own drum parts then I suppose props go out to Lopez for being solid and very precise, while Nordin has a more experimental or 'natural' sound.

 

[elm lateral]

A good drummer is one that can fit the music, hold the beat and keep the music together...the amazing bits are the bonuses.

Long live Nicko McBrain

 

[Static]

Originally posted by pac1288
" well Lopez's drumming is more technical but anders has that stableness that Lopez lacks"

I'm just isolating this because it really shows our strongly contrasting opinion on this. I've always felt that Nordin was more technical and Lopez was more stable. Thats why this remark is so weird.....hmmmmm.....

 

[Bleakest Harvest]

Which means there is no conclusive answer to which of the drummers is better.

 

[Culture_AK47]

I wouldn't have been able to decide between them up until Deliverance. Lopez is simply amazing on this album making him win hands down.

 

[Rusty]

Hearse, do you have to bring women into everything??

Anyways, onto my answer. I prefer the drumming on Orchid and Morningrise than the drumming on MAYH, Still Life, and BWP. I haven't heard Deliverance yet (but after this thread I can't bloody wait).

What I don't know is how well Anders could play the later albums, and how well Martin plays the older albums (I haven't heard them live, y'see). So I don't see how I could tell which one is the better drummer, especially when the style of the Anders albums is so different from the style of the Martin albums.

What I do know is that I notice the drums much more on Orchid and Morningrise. They seem to stand out more, and to my untrained ears sound more interesting - I especially like Anders' snare-ing. I've just started programming the Forest of October drums (for the Opeth tribute) and doing that has hit home just how good and wierd the drumming on Orchid is.

So that's me done.

Now I wanna hear Juuso's view - and ante's view wouldn't go amiss either...

 

[Staffan]

Originally posted by Static
It did. White Cluster was the main exception...the drum midsection blew me away when I first heard it. The Moor also has very good drumming. But in all seriousness, it was all rather uncreative...BWP had super-boring drums. MAYH had heaps of cool fills but on Still Life and particularly on BWP he toned down the complexity. MAYH is my least favourite album but has the best drumming in my opinion. You can't base all the 'creativity' you say there is in Still Life's drumming on White Cluster because that really was an exception. All this time it feels hes been more a time-keeper than a creative drummer.

Deliverance has changed this. Simply my opinion.

Well I guess you have to listen once more on those and think of the drums... lopez plays way more complex than nordin, especially with the hi hat, of course nordin does some really cool things sometimes in the songs but mainly he plays just straight...
but lopez plays pretty straight on MAYH. And the fills are similar to eachother in all his 3 albums(I haven't heard deliverance, won't download it)... by the way listen to leper affinity

 

[Monsterxman]

This is a hard one to say. I think prefer Nordin, since I always feel like Lopez tries to overwhelm the music, especially on MAYH. I mean that style is awesome, but it does get old. Lars of Metallica got old too, maybe it's just the same type of heavy playing that gets boring to me. Nordin is a bit more reserved and understated, which I personally enjoy... especially on acoustic tracks. Lopez can't seem to play subtley at times... Skill wise I think Lopez pisses on Nordin... but Nordin to me is the more interesting drummer.

Someone else said it best, Opeth's lineup at the time of Morningrise, was probably their most interesting (notice, I didn't say best, because I know everyone would yell at me). They had a jazzy drummer, who didn't sound like a metal drummer at all... and they had a bass player who used his bass as a separate instrument, not just an extension of the guitar...

To me that's real progressive music (which I am a bigger fan of than straight Death Metal)... Orchid and Morningrise both had cool 70's vibe to them. I miss that a bit... maybe Anders was the reason for it... who knows, Regardless Opeth is still a great band.