Metal Reviews

So, name your top 10 to 15 drummers. Drummers of any kind.

Neil Peart
Cozy Powell
Aquiles Priester
Larz (He is tasteful)


Drummers are something for me that if it is noticeable it's remarkable. If it's not, it's excellent and and if it sucks, then it sucks. I like all the drummers very much that play on all the albums I listen to. But I gotta say, they are interchangable because everyone is so good.

Unorthodox structure is what makes a drummer stand out.

Danny Carey
Tomas Haake

Excellent choices.

Danny Carey
Hellhammer
Nicholas Barker
Adrian Erlandson
Mike Portnoy
Mike Mangini
Dave Lombardo
Gene Hoglan
Frost
Horgh
Jon Theodore (the mars volta)
Chris Adler
Trym
Proscriptor

Ringo Starr is incredibly underappreciated as a drummer. Seriously. This guy came up with the idea of using an anvil, and back in the 60s.

Gavin Harrison - Porcupine Tree
Jeff Burrows - The Tea Party

Rob (Jon? I get them mixed up.) Wright from Nomeansno. Perfect mix of skill and energy. He plays basic punk beats and he plays crazy impressive stuff, and he makes both sound super easy and fun.

Max Roach. He probably sounded good when he first tapped a snare drum as a little kid.

Guy from Akimbo. He's got the energy that all rock/metal/punk drummers should have. Hits things hard.

Guy from Colour Haze. Very elegant and subtle for a rock drummer. It works.

Guy from Canvas Solaris. Creative stuff that makes them sound more thoughtful than most tech metal bands.

Cloudkicker. Makes a drum machine sound very natural and energetic.

Both guys from These Arms Are Snakes. I like them because there's a noticeable difference between their styles. Oxeneers was dancy and almost peppy, then on Easter and Tail Swallower the change of drummer makes them sound darker and moodier.

Second Jon Theodore. I think he'd have fit better on Octahedron and the new TMV than the other guy and Deantoni.

Guy from Reverend Bizarre. Their slow, repetitive riffs are dangerously close to being monotonous, but I think he's responsible for making them rockin' and fun.

Chris Pennie from DEP. Just listen to Calculating Infinity and Miss Machine! I especially missed him after hearing guy on Option Paralysis :(

Jeff Eber from Dysrhythmia/Zevious. Groovy.

Uli Kusch
Casey Grillo
John Bonham
Jukka Nevalainen

Dave Lombardo
Sean Reinhart
Danny Carey
Hellhammer
Gene Hoglan
Brian Downey
All of these drummers have such great ability.

- Ringo Starr
- Mick Avory
- Ginger Baker
- Elvin Jones
- Buddy Rich
- Joey Baron
- Bill Bruford
- Tony Williams
- John Bonham
- Neil Peart

Most metal drummers are overrated.

EDIT:

Buddy Rich
Joey Baron
Neil Peart

These three are the ones I agree with. However, in terms of technicality and speed, many, many metal drummers can keep up with these three. Not to mention what a generalization your statement is to begin with and thus not valid in any sense of the word. Yeah, these three got "famous" and thus you see them as untouchable or unquestionable.

idk I think Buddy Rich is basically unfuckwithable when it comes to drumming so I'd feel pretty safe saying he's way better than any metal drummer.

Saw the track this thread would take a mile away.

I think not. Sure his got speed, technicality and stamina; but doesn't that sound all too familiar to you when it comes to advanced metal drummers? The psychological state-of-mind of someone that believes Rich is a legend and untouchable stops him to believe that yes, there will be more people like him like in the metal business! I will always have a hard time believing Rich is a legend when you have people like Proscripter, Trym, Hellhammer, Hoglan, DsO's drummer, Xul, Asgeir Mickelson, Tomas Haake, Martin Lopez, Hunter Ginn, Steve Flynn and so many other phenomenal drummers in the Metal world that are beyond words. It would be rather illogical to consider Rich as God when there are so many gods of all kinds. You study Philosophy; every aspect of a philosophical statement might be an angle of reality itself but that particular statement coming from anyone cannot contain the whole of reality as absolute.

Not really an expert but it still sounds to me like Rich is in a different league from those guys. Like, from talking to people at the music school here, I get the impression that the rhythms that make Meshuggah riffs sound so cool are pretty standard for jazz musicians

Incubus, Mike Smith, Alex Marquez, David Gray, Doc, Proscriptor, Flo Mounier, Ventor, Steve Asheim

Right. The factors that make an outstanding drummer is unorthodox rhythm, extreme intricacy, and the power that which the drummer hits the drums. I think all these factors exist both in metal and jazz. So I suppose saying that one is better than another would be foolish and outplace and thus immature. George Kollias, Marco Minneman, are two that immediately come to mind as anything as technically advanced as jazz drummers. Let's put it this way: The technicality of the guitar playing necessitates the portion of extreme intricacy in terms of filling and cymbals. Now, jazz can sometimes get extremely complex but all I'm saying is that a metal guitarist can easily get as extremely technical as a jazz guitarist as well. Jazz and metal musicians are most definitely alongside with Classical the most accomplished musicians in terms of virtuosity. As with any kind of drumming the playing vastly differ from simplicity to advanced technicality. Remember, the existence of the possibility and impossibility of what a drummer can accomplish. Both a jazz drummer and a metal drummer in their advanced levels have borders lines to cross and innovate. So saying that the rhythmic patterns of Meshuggah are the basics of jazz drumming is a little too bit an outplace statement and invalid from many perspectives. Keep in mind "blast-beats" came from Jazz.

Technical skills are not everything when it comes to art. They merely are the ammunitions that a musician uses while doing his job. Many metal drummers have the chops but lack that little something that makes a perfectly trained musician into a unique instrumentalist. That little something could be called spirit or personality but is mainly impossible to pin point... Talent works, too.

You dared select three off my list (the easiest choices, may I add) and left the others aside. Why? Do you know what Mr. Bruford's capable of? Have you heard the Kinks? What makes Cream so unique a band?

I was sure, when writing my little closing comment about metal drummers being overrated, that someone would react just as you did. I'm not surprised. Not amused either.