When it comes to top drumming performances in the 2010s, the world of technical death metal is the pinnacle of percussive prowess.

Bands like Gorguts, Beyond Creation, Obscura, Gorod, Gigan, Pyrrhon, Portal, Nile and Ad Nauseum just to name a few blow everything else out of the water.

Haven 't even heard any jazz-fusion that can compete personally.

Virgil Donati is definitely up there. Master of jazz and prog metal!

Yep. Put Aaron Kitcher on top of that list. Its unfortunate his drumming is accompanied by Infant Annihilator lyrics.

Yes. Marco is a great drummer.

Mastelotto

Portnoy

Blundell

D'Virgilio

Take your pick. All five of the above are inhuman examples of greatness and true heirs to Peart, Collins, Palmer and Bruford.

I could literally list hundreds of death metal drummers.

This video demonstrates some of the best and their techniques.

There's a second part if you want to explore further.

John Longstreth of GORGUTS (2009-14) often makes the top of the list for tech death drummers. Pretty much every song is mind-blowing. This is just the first track on COLORED SANDS which was a prog metal masterpiece to many.

Marco

Virgil

TOP means TOP. Malmsteen's musical vocabulary blows Van Halen's away. When did you challenge me? Don't remember that. You obviously don't listen to a lot of tech death metal to even know what i'm talking about so why are you even commenting?

This comes to mind instantly, though I look at this more as a stellar band effort.

I don't spend enough time in the forum to care about such challenges to be honest.

I also don't really care who thinks who's better than who etc

Music isn't a contest but if we are ranking artists as supposedly being in the top of their respective game then we do have to tick off a few characteristics of their craft in order to gauge their overall abilities.

Not sure what you're talking about but when i say Malmsteem is a better guitarist is solely from a technical point of view. I find VH much more interesting to actually listen to actually and there are dozens of guitarists who are better in every possible way than both of them!

Top drumming is a perception. What do we mean by TOP DRUMMING PERFORMANCES? In my world that includes not only creativity, innovation, compositional ingenuity and a firm command of textures, timbres, tones and rhythmic nuances but also includes speed and the ability to navigate through fields of time signature changes.

If you or anybody else on the other hand interprets TOP DRUMMING PERFORMANCES as the most interesting to them or some other interpretation, then so be it.

IMHO, tech death is unsurpassed in not ONLY speed but in myriad attributes.

That does not mean in any way that non-metal drummers are not excellent or talented!

And of course these observations have ZERO to do with enjoyability regarding personal taste.

Jazz and jazz-fusion bands are indeed talented ( as are prog bands ) but i personally haven't heard anything that exceeds the all-encompassing technicalities of tech death and even proggy black metal.

Reading some reviews of his albums since 2010, he's lost it and taken the great fall into mediocrity.

That's fine. Speed doesn't impress me like it did when I was a teen. In fact, overreliance on speed can make things quite boring.

'Sides, no tech/death metal drummer is better than this guy. 

I won't post the original video. The title itself is inappropriate unedited. Fortunately this is an instrumental take. The bands lyrics are beyond the most vile thing I have heard previously, regardless of their alleged satirical intent. But the drummer is just insane. So here is a reaction video of it.

And no, I won't recommend any of their other videos. Search at your own risk.

^ that was sick! Never heard of them but dude was indeed an impressive beast!

OK, i take it back. THIS is the best drummer EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Thanks!

Shadowyzard wrote: ^ Yes it is very impressive. One of the best I've ever seen. These boundries had been pushed to this degree many years before, but this guy plays like perfectly. The sub-genre doesn't appeal to me though. It is kinda boring. Like a person yelling manically, and then apoligizing depressively in turns.

How many times do you have to shout to the world that you don't like extreme metal? I think everyone has gotten the point by now.

Some of us LOOOOOOOVE these extreme manic musical expressions. Me included

^ i don't get the hype about MGŁA. They aren't very original at all.

Looks like  you already joined the dark side if your avatar is any indication of your true intent :)

Marco Minnemann certainly on a technical level of superiority for the Raven That Refused To Sing.

A much overlooked band is Tin Spirits and their drummer Douglas Mussard is right on the nose perfect if feel and timing are the most important things.

Also great drumming on Animals as Leaders , Mastodon, Haken and the like.

Hi,

My only complaint is the bunch of drummers that have an incredible amount of toms and everything else all over, and don't use more than half of it, and everyone thinks they are great drummers. Or worse, 90% of their drumming is on the snare drum, 5% on the 4th beat (or otherwise), and the last 5% is how they still are doing beat on the snare when the music is softer. That's talent for you ... not listening or even knowing what the music is about.

In this sense, folks like Bonzo will always look better than any of these ... He had the touch that made LZ special, and it was obvious as the stuff done AFTER he passed away was alright with his son, but lacked the touch and feel that we all knew and grew up on! The same with Moonie ... and his use of cymbals and breaks, that defied drumming at the time ... no one can do him, still! 

Simon is an experienced player. He has played enough stuff to be able to define the spots here and there very well and fill them well, even with Hiromi ... something that I imagine is not easy since she can go off at any moment and the drummer and Mr. Jackson have to be there with it!!! Another drummer that does this super well would be Steve Gadd, and listening to him play with Kate Bush is a treat ... a couple of songs that you could say has no rhyme or meter, and he's able to color the touches beautifully, and not have to worry about staying on beat or touch ... that is really rare and special in drumming, but the time keepers we are showing in this thread would not know what to do in these situations. Another drummer that also has a fine touch is Ian Mosley in Marillion, who I think colors their music very well.

A lot was said about Bill Bruford, but he made a comment on his book that was important that no drummers pay attention to ... what to do when it is quiet and there is some silence. I would even suggest that many of the drummers listed here don't know either! 

Yes! Thank you! I really love Paul Mallyon's work. Greg DiMiceli is great, too! Mark Heron from Oceansize was definitely a favorite from the Naughties.

BrufordFreak wrote: I gotta admit (Mike) that the more I watch these closeup videos of extreme/tech/doom/black metal drummers, they're pretty impressive. Hard to discount the incredibly intricate work they do with their feet: I never knew they had multiple pedals per foot to "express" with! Skill, creative/artistry are definitely way more involved in their play than I ever knew/thought. Makes it kind of hard to compare these drummers with the "space-meisters" like Bruford, Jansen, Heron, Mallyon, and Coluzzi. It's like they're different breeds playing totally different instruments (in totally different universes).

Yeah, i think the extreme nature of metal alienates many so that they don't bother to explore the true genius embedded in much of it. It's the modern version of the drumming Olympics! Of course Bruford and jazz giants paved the way for the modern era of tech proggy extreme metal. In my book it's all good!

Jazzin' with Rez Abbasi:

View from inside the drum booth at a Rez Abbasi session:

Extreme metal with an avant twist, as part of Imperial Triumphant:

Avant-prog with John Zorn's Simulacrum trio:

Bottom line, when I hear him play it hits me in my soul. 

I beg to differ. The reason they are compared is because jazz drumming methodologies are integral in many of the techniques used in the more progressive styles of tech / extreme metal. If you don't hear jazz drumming in Cynic, Atheist or Gorguts then you're not listening very carefully.

Obviously metal is a huge universe at the moment and you can compare different bands to almost any style of music out there as it's all been incorporated (or so it seems).

OK, i get your drift. Many tech metal drummers are also in other bands. Glad you added the word "generally" because extreme metal can indeed become one-dimensional but then again that's the point. I personally don't feel music is competitive in nature. Some of us just have a need for speed and tech extreme metal can scratch that itch like nobody's business!

Hi,

Even better ... the strings and the tension. Nowadays everyone has them at 80 PSI or better since the rackets are strong and all that. In the old days, McEnroe had his strings on the Wilson (wood) rackets at about 50 PSI so the ball would "die" when it touched it and he could get the ball to spin even more when he placed it over there in that spot, which made him one of the best "spot" players ever. And using the spin on the serve was even tougher on the opposition. But it changed when Lendl came along with strings about 70 PSI or more and he was blowing holes in John's rackets!

John Stanier - Battles

Foals have great drumming if we allow for non-prog.

You may prefer younger and less established artists in this thread but the three drummers live performances of King Crimson were outstanding.

Both non-prog and old in the 2010s, sorry. Rest in Peace Tony Allen!

And another legend who is no longer with us.

Jaki Liebezeit still did very creative and fun things in the 2010s.

And something more recent...Schnellertollermeier. Meier is the drummer.

OK just one more... hard to stop... Charles Hayward, phantastically creative drummer, lots of very varied stuff around (I decided against his 30 minutes snare drum roll video ).

Not really young anymore either, but who cares?

However, musically I prefer fusion drummers. They seem to be able to vary swing feel, being on top of or behind the beat, and all those musical nuances like no one else. 

There is a reason Devin Townsend gets different drummers on different songs including metal monsters like Samus but most often leans on Morgan Agren.

Hi,

Marc Layton-Bennett on the Jaki Liebezeit Tribute show, makes a lot of these drummers look ... not very good. Maybe it is that Marc is playing with Jah Wobble that makes the difference? ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFRS7Mbhxco&list=OLAK5uy_n4k_-aasGWMKdUyX4MZP2415PmfJqI2lM" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFRS7Mbhxco&list=OLAK5uy_n4k_-aasGWMKdUyX4MZP2415PmfJqI2lM

This is him when he was 14, 9 years ago