Re: tell me who is the best metal drummer!
well fact is this topic is redundant
but
i can tell you a few (metal) people whose drumming I love, even though I get so little to nothing out of metal (though i have before so i think i have some idea of what i say)
John Dolmayan - perfect> tasteful, powerful and dammit - sit and play his parts on your drums either along to the song or just with it in your head and to me it brings a joy.
Derek Roddy & Hellhammer - a different part of metal spectrum to eg Dolmayan but to me are something of pioneers in the fashion that Dave Lombardo was in the 80s (time will tell). Their speed and enruance but more importantly precision ('tightness'), sound and creativity is wonderful. Very musical yet still intrinsically death/black metal. AND - both the boys can groove. Also both Derek Roddy and Hellhammer on one album each have what is for me the best extreme metal drum sound - for derek roddy, Nile's Black Seeds of Vengeance = wonderful. For Hellhammer, Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. However both players have suffered weaker and lower drum mixes on other recordings. A real shame.
Dave Lombardo - in regards to 'metal', i really think Slayer means something. And Dave Lombardo was one of those pioneers of the speed but as a suppliment to genuine creativity and real musicality. Reliably good, but rarely predictable. And to any drum-playing Slayer fan, you know as well as I do - there are some magical Lombardo moments. Paul Bostaph never quite captured those 'magical' moments with Slayer (though i think that has as much to do with the material itself from his time with the band) but like Lombardo also has a good groove. My preference to Lombardo is also to do with his more refined hand technique - Bostaph is too much a slammer. Cannot be healthy I do not think. Lombardo's double bass technique is for me also questionable - he seems to truly 'run' on his pedals and get a lot of leg power into the strokes. However he is 40 give or take and still doing it as well if not better than ever, on every occasion that i have seen him.
Joey Jordison - not someone i feel the need to praise for his speed (hand or foot) but rather his drawing attention to 'clever' metal drumming and, I find, getting more recognition for drummers in the metal genre (as a former one myself). At the same time he has made lots of young drummers go after speed and double bass too quickly etc but this is not directly his fault. Live i am really not that impressed by him, nor am i by his (newer) technique but on certain recordings - he really does know what he is saying. There's nothing specific i can really refer to as to why i think he is good - but for those who like him like i do, you'll know what i mean. There's a weird, weird groove there.
i wanted to name five players, but...
To those who count Abe Cunningham as a metal drummer - I think he is really something. To those who don't ... oh well. Cunningham has the atmosphere and groove and even clever chops that never obscure anything but sound perfect. Dave Silveria up until Issues was similar but over simplified in my opinion. It may have something to do with the surgery for his wrist injuries - but in watching him he seems to be hitting harder and 'dumber' now than i have ever seen him ... so I am inclined now to say 'whatever' in regards to Dave Silveria. Abe Cunningham leads the way for me in this field.
