Metal Drummers

[chazgrohl]

paul bostaph, i think he was a brilliant addition to slayer while he was there, onthe god hates us all album, songs like exile and payback, stain of mind on diabolus in musica, and the drumming on divine intervention is amazing, dont get me wrong i XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx love lombardo but i dont think bostaph gets enough praise

also brann dailor my god hes amazing, made me like metal music again, well him and chris adler, 2 fookin amazing drummers, that ive only recently heard but love every second of every song by mastodon and lamb of god cos of these guys

and mikkey dee man the guy has a killer foot, or killer feet even motorhead rule anyways but he puts a solid beat back into their songs, a bit of life were philthy took off, sure thete's another one philthy animal taylor, legend alot, ace of spades, cant beat that beat, yes its true i love metal :)

o not to forget tomas haake to, meshuggah, their just insane, try drum to that, its crazy

[DuxTer]

Stef Broks from the band Textures is pretty amazing as well. You should defiantely check Textures out if you don't know them yet. (:

[trumvirvel]

Some of my favorite metal drummers:

Ulrich (The reason I got hooked on drums - "Justice" is imho a drum masterpiece, albeit with a terrible sound)
Jörg Michaels (Stratovarius)
Colaiuta (Megadeth - he seems capable of playing ANYTHING...impressive!)
Jayson Sherlock (Mortification)
Alex Holzwarth (Rhapsody)
Ted Kirkpatrick (Tourniquet)
Bobby Jarzombek (Rob Rock)
David Husvik (Extol)
Nick Menza (Megadeth)
Uli Kusch (Helloween)
Portnoy (Dream Theater - occasionally during their songs it's straight metal...)
Tim Alexander (Primus - occasionally...)
Mangini (James La Brie - occasionally...)
Jason Rullo (Symphony X - occasionally...)

All of these drummers are capable of playing some really great - and fast - DB drum, as well as playing inventive as well as solid metal beats. Imo what makes a good metal drummer.

Isaacore: Husvik in another band!? What's the style of "Twisted into form"?

[nebula821]

John Dolmayan - System of a Down.

[DrummerBoy95]

Mario Duplantier from Gojira. saw them live in July, theyre absolutely amazing. Mario's got fast footwork and he plays with THE feeling that some metal drummers out there just seem to lack. Most of the guys that just blast during what seems to be endless songs and who manage to fit 100000 double bass hits per second just seem to bore me.

Oh and of course theres George Kollias, the Tool guy (forgot his name), Dave Lombardo, Derek Roddy, Chris Adler, Thomas Haake, etc but theres too many to name...

[four crossed wands]

Glad to see Karma to Burn mentioned, the drum work on Almost Heathen is especially memorable. Chris Turner's playing in Capricorns is amazing, and shares some commonalities with KtB. A lot of those stoner-related bands had great drummers; Brant Bjork's work with Kyuss was great, it's what convinced me that crashing the ride had a place in metal.

The drumming on Deathspell Omega's Fas Ite album is among the best drumming I've ever heard, anywhere. Extremely creative playing. Of course, that's facilitated by the music which is open to interesting patterns. I think people critical of some of the seemingly less creative metal drummers should keep in mind that sometimes something very straight and solid is what the music needs.

Proscriptor from Absu is, to me, the definitive metal drummer, drumming powerfully and singing at the same time! Very creative, especially in the rhythmic design of some of the songs. Particularly important, to me, is that he pulls everything off very clearly live, unlike some other popular metal drummers. Without triggers, too. And those rolls! Check out these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXCcSU8yKc (check out the pattern at 3:55)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jBuZJM7stc

Although the guys I mentioned above are maybe more creative, no metal drumming thread is complete without a mention of Vyl from Keep of Kalessin and Mr. Torturer Blastmachine in Belphegor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abt-1jp7F7Y (Vyl in the studio)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TBSToy3VVk (Belphegor; the model of relaxation!)

If you'd like to know more about why I like these guys, I'm sure I could gush for hours.

[joeysnare]

2 big influentials for me have always been vinnie paul and gene "the atomic clock" hoglan,and even though their technically power metal look up "ANGRA" and their drummer Aquiles Preister is just phenominal check them out if you havent heard em.

[inflames]

The guys who influence me the most are Mario Duplantier and Martin Lopez from Gojira and Opeth respectively.

Those guys have got such good groove, technical ability and just really make the songs they play in even more good than they actually are.

[RhythmDrums]

Danny Carey from Tool; he plays very nice progressive patterns with amazing fills.
Dirk Verbeuren from Soilwork; his blastbeats sound very clear and he can play really fast fills.
Tomas Haake's from Meshuggah ofcourse has amazing footwork but besides that his drumming doesn't sound very impressive to me.
Derrick Roddy's blastbeats are VERY fast.

My favorite is definitely Danny Carey.

[Thundersticks]

Gene Hoglan has to be top 3 at least. What he did for Death on both "Individual thought patterns" and "Symbolic", even though "individual" is not exactly 100% tight its realy the work of a master mind. clever patterns and killer fills! Gotta love the big guy

[Hedon]

tomas haake is pretty much my favorite, machinelike abilities with great groove.
blake richardson has awesome parts, and hes a monster

btw, chris adler is not a good drummer. i watched a performance of his at modern drummer 05 i think and he really is not comparable to guys like derek roddy etc.
his playing is so amateur compared to the real pros and he has no dynamics

[razorx]

I think it's all about speed and endurance. But you also have to mix it up a little bit or else it gets boring. Jason Bittner is one of my favorites.

[JT1]

Well none of the Classic or Traditional metal drummers have been mentioned.

Me being me, Scott Travis is my favourite. He was with Racer X back in the 80s then joined Judas Priest in 1989. Some of his double bass rolls and patterns are what influenced the likes of Jaska from COB and Raymond Herrera i mean listen to Phallic Tractor or Scarified (insane). Then obviously you have his awesome work from Painkiller and even better on Jugulator with Judas Priest.

Then you have the likes of Nicko McBrain sure he aint a double bass player but what that guy knows about drumming is how to play musically and i think that makes him great.

If we are going for heavier metal, most have already been mentioned

Chris Adler (knows how to add those little bits that make you go oohhh)
Raymond Herrera (most creative double bass patterns)
Tomas Haake (insane technical ability especially with poly-rhythms)
Dave McClain (Very creative groover)
Daniel Erlandsson (Knows how to play a damn good metal solo)
Martin Lopez (probably the best all round)
Dan Foord (very technical, very creative, one of my favourites for sure)

I would like to add Travis Orbin to the list of names (Sky eats Airplane) formerly of Periphery. His drumming boggles the mind that's all i can say.

[BassDriver]

What makes a good metal drummer...

...first of all speed

solid technique

creativity

double bass chops (it's a must in modern metal, rebelling against it and sticking to the single pedal will not you gigs)

playing something that suits the song (usually a blastbeat)

Don't forget about these metal drummers:

Mike Mangini - Steve Vai, Eliminator
Danney Carey - Tool
Abe Cunnigham - Deftones
Samus Paulicelli - Ex-Abigail Williams
Dave Mackintosh - DragonForce


All great, all with those attributes that make a good metal drummer and all with very much different approaches to drumming