I love Joey Jordison's style.

Good drummers:
I think I'll fellate the standard list of "great metal drummers". Dave Lombardo. Gene Hoglan. Sean Reinert. George Kollias. Mike Portnoy. Thomen Stauch. Derek Roddy. Inferno. Mike Mangini. Insert hyperbole about speed, precision and power here.

One that I think deserves mention (who I don't think has come up yet) is Johan Langell from Pain of Salvation. He doesn't play speed much like most of the other guys in this thread, but he doesn't need to - he fits the songs perfectly, he can adapt to odd time signatures smoothly as anything, and he can play some pretty complex polyrhythms without resorting to constant technical wanking (*cough* Tomas Haake *cough*). PoS really suffered after he left - Leo Margarit's no slouch, but they just don't have that spark any more.

Bad drummers:
-Lars Ulrich. Do I really need to say anything about him?
-Tommy Portimo. Basically the Paul Mazurkiewicz of power metal. He only knows how to play two beats - double bass hammering which gets monotonous fast (especially when he uses the same beat in nearly all of Sonata's fast songs), and slow beats which sound like a drum machine. Sonata would probably be a lot better with someone like Thomen Stauch or Richard Christy behind the kit.
-Brann Dailor. Dude has skill, but no idea how to apply it. Pretty much every Mastodon song is an excuse for him to have a seizure all over his kit, and it gets annoying quickly. One of the few things I enjoyed about Crack the Skye was that he FINALLY learned how to shut up and keep time for ten seconds.
-Just about any groove metal drummer, but I'll pick Igor Cavalera post-Chaos AD. He was a good thrash metal drummer, not technically the best but he served the music well. Then he abandoned all of that for leaden hip hop beats and random "tribal" interludes which add nothing. What happened? At least he got out of that phase soon enough.
-Dave Holland. Bass-snare-bass-snare-cymbal. Woo. Honestly, his boring-as-shit drumming ruined some Judas Priest songs which otherwise would have been great. Not to mention he molests little boys. Thank God for Scott Travis...

Am I the only one who finds Scott Travis kinda boring? I mean, it probably helps matters that he's never been on a great Priest album... but he's kinda rigid and I don't really find the 'Painkiller' intro all that mind boggling or incredible. He's a step up from Holland... big fucking deal. Give me Les Binks and the guy on Sin After Sin any day of the week.

Also, I'd definitely say Igor Cavalera was one of the most technically accomplished thrash drummers. Definitely as far as straight-up thrash went he was probably only second to Lombardo (I guess there's some prog-thrash guys out there, but who gives a shit ).

That was actually Adrian Erlandsson that he made the "hits like a fag" comment about.

I would call Painkiller a great Priest album, and I liked Angel of Retribution as well. But to be honest, he's hardly the greatest drummer in the world either, most of the positive reaction to him was probably because he's not Holland. I still like him, though - he did good work on an otherwise mediocre album by Racer X.

And yeah, I was thinking prog-thrash as well when I wrote that. Cue Gene Hoglan/Tad Leger/Nick Menza/Rick Colaluca fanboyism here.

Yeah, Ray Herrera was the one who "has no hands"

PS: Adrian Erlandsson just recently responded to KFK's hot garbage with this: http://lockerz.com/s/149259466

He also said that Joe Nunez's mother wouldn't let him audition for Slayer.

Reed St Mark's creativity, bombast and subtlety behind the kit wins for me, hands down. Instantly recognizable style characterised by a shifting, pulsing rhythm that provides the groove for the song, gives the guitars enough space to spread their wings all while playing something that is really interesting and adds to the music. His drumming on Into the Pandemonium is especially remarkable.

Honorable mentions: Pete Sandoval, Proscriptor McGovern, Richard Christy, Fenriz (on Soulside Journey, A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Goatlord), Hellhammer (on De Mysteriis and his work with Thorns), Dave Lombardo, Bill Ward, Vinny Appice, Mike Portnoy.

I can't really say that Romain Goulon is an exceptional drummer. I've seen others who can play Necrophagist's drum parts, but until they release some new material with Goulon writing his own patterns, I can only judge him by what Hannes Grossmann has played. Granted, being able to play HG's parts note-for-note does make you marginally godly.

In reference to Mazurkiewicz, look at the progression of CC's talent pool - starting out on "Eaten Back to Life," they were a so-so death metal band at best. Alex Webster has grown by leaps and bounds (just the playing on Blotted Science albums shows that), and they've added the godly Pat O'Brien (who's played in Nevermore) on lead guitar. Rob Barrett's no slouch either, having played lead guitar in Malevolent Creation. Lastly, they swapped a decent singer (Chris Barnes) for ex-Monstrosity vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fischer. Every single instrument in the band, with the exception of Mazurkiewicz (the Phil Rudd of death metal, IMHO), has been elevated to a much more technical level. I'm not saying he does or doesn't work within the context of what CC's done for the past 20 years, I'm just saying for my tastes, he's not that great and I don't find his playing inspiring or impressive.

I don't think I've seen any mention of Yanic Bercier yet...

That guys work with Quo Vadis is absolutely phenomenal, tight style, creative fills, face paced, overall just a really instense, yet still technical drummer. His performance on the Live in Montreal DVD is outstanding, near flawless. Mario Duplantier and Brann Dailor deserve mentions as well, as both utilize rather unorthodox styles and Duplantier especially plays with enough intensity to rock the stage alone, really enjoyed his stuff on the later two albums. As it was mentioned above, Dailor takes a lot of flak for his utter randomness at times but I find it quite interesting, obviously not the greatest use of talent sure but taking into consideration the size of the kit he uses and what he accomplishes with it is rather impressive. Lastly, Bairoth, the guy who did drums on Nokturnal Mortum's latest album was fairly impressive as well. Definitely worthy of a mention. His work on the following live album was fantastic too. Absolutely ruthless on the double bass, but still kept it interesting with some nice patterns, fills, and cymbal work.

As for bad drummers, one that comes to mind right away is Toni Hallio. I haven't listened to Norther's later work much, but I know the drumming really isn't much of an improvement. As for Hallio, he's not necessarily horrible, just horribly uncreative. The 3 albums he was featured on, it sounds like he uses the exact same patterns EVERY song. (Cymbal-snare over constant double bass and slows every once in awhile with a fill here and there and a change of tempo) Everyone has already laid into the obvious one's such as Lars Ulrich, so I'll refrain from mentioning any of them.

Best drummers:
Flo Mounier - No matter how much I listen to Cryptopsy, I'm always amazed by the thing's he's able to do.
Lille Gruber - The same really, fast and brutal drummer. Is really good with odd beats and stuff like that.
Tomas Haake - Just... wow. Whenever I listen to Meshuggah songs, I lose control of my body and air-drum to their, he has some really catchy but difficult to play beats.
John Longstreth - Mainly for his work in Origin, but he proved to be a really fast drummer in Angelcorpse as well. In my opinion, one of the best drummers in Brutal Death Metal.

That incredibly passionate delivery is his strength. One of my favourites, doubtless, and though his technical failings on some of the earlier albums may be seen as a charming element, I would prefer a more consistent snare in those really fast blastbeats.

Its not as if Adrian's drumming is all that interesting in and of itself, there isn't anything all that innovative on his performance on Early At the gates other than a lot of tapping on Terminal spirit disease.

Also, have to mention my two favorite drummers ever: Martin Lopez and Sean Reinert. I love Martin's real jamming style, and Sean Reinert's jazzy metal style is insane.

For me a definite favorite who hasn't been mentioned is Mark Zonder. He's obviously very technically skilled as evident on say Perfect Symmetry, but it's the flavor and character to the way he plays the rhythms that really distinguishes him.

explain to me why Flo wouldn't be a candidate for one of the best??

Uhh he said that because Flo Mounier has been mentioned like 5 times in this thread...

shit. . .

deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerp.

I agree with Mark Zonder. His playing with Fate's Warning is pretty impressive IMHO. Tomas Haake and John Longstreth are great as well. Another drummer I think is pretty incredible is Nick Pierce (Unearth/ex-the Faceless). Check out his YouTube page and judge for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/blastbeatshaman

Ya. And crazy fills.

Yep. His drumming on Scum and From Enslavement was untouchable and Napalm was never the same without him

I'd have to also throw in Dave Witte. The man is a legend.

^Yes! I'm not really a fan of Discordance Axis, but I do like his drumming. He definitely elevated that band into the "Great-band-not-my-style" territory. And Mick Harris was one of the first, and arguably the best, at Napalm-style blast beating; lots of drummers imitated that style but none of them pulled it off the way he did.

I really dig Anders Jivarp from Dark Tranquility. A great gothenburg drummer.

Also, Daray from Vesania (Now with Dimmu) has good technical flair.

The guy who recorded Dawn's Slaughtersun deserves an award or something.

For me the good drummers would be Frost, Hellhammer, Trym from Emperor, he was so criminally underrated. Loved his stuff with them. Erik was good too, someone earlier the drummer for Antaeus, they had different guys for their albums, but one that stands out was ZVN. Also the guy from High On Fire is awesome as well. The guy who drummed for Sepultura on Kairos and A-Lex was amazing live. He left recently. Steve Asheim is up there, Inferno from Behemoth is one of the best guys currently. Horgh from Immortal is good too, his stuff on Blizzard Beasts, At The Heart Of Winter, Sons Of Northern Darkness and All Shall Fall is great. The drummer from Krisiun too is worth a mention. Emil when he was with Marduk was their best drummer. Obviously Pete Sandoval.

Of the bad ones, well you guys listed so many and I agree with them. But one that will probably surprise you is Fenriz. I find his shit since Soulside Journey to be well, average. He's probably a better drummer than I say, but he really doesn't show it lately.

Iain Finlay who drummed on Running Wilds Death Or Glory and Wild Animal EP was like a double bass Nicko McBrain but BETTER.
He made somefucking tight fills and interesting stuff from start to finish
Best drumming on BATTLE OF WATERLOO!

I greatly enjoy Allen Blickle from Baroness. There's just something about his drumming I can't put my finger on that makes him such a pleasure to listen to.

i actually know fuck all about music objectively speaking, so i'm not claiming he's the most skilled out there, but i've always liked the groovy style conny pettersson (of anata) uses in his drumming
and the mere fact that i often pay attention to the drums while listening to anata with those frantic riffs is a feat in and of itself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIqPbZ20EXI

Fenriz is one of my favourite metal drummers, and I don't just mean in the Soulside Journey days (in fact I prefer the drumming on Goatlord...far more natural!). On the other hand I mostly dislike Trym...way too much double bass and never managed to get a good sound out of a kit really, although he was pretty good back in the early days with Enslaved. As for Fenriz though, I like him because he's generally very tasteful and knows exactly when something needs to have a bit of groove, or when it needs to be steady and relentless. Certainly his days of playing really complex rhythms seem to be over, but it's hardly necessary for Darkthrone's material. His fills are still great though and always have been!

I think Trym is excellent, but not really favored in studio for production issues. He sounds terrific in Emperial Live Ceremony IMO.

Worst ones are the best: Capricornus, Three Hearts of Damnation & Impurity, DD Crazy, Chris Witchhunter, Lars Ulrich... Not the best in technics but sheer stamina and boneheaded attitude is what makes them great.

Mike Smith is the best drummer (and would kick Flo's ass in a fight, which is worthy criteria for drumming).


Just kidding, but I do consider Mike Smith to be one of the best drummers, and he's a lot less of a douchebag than Flo. Other great drummers would include; Horgh, Incubus, Alexander Von Meilenwald, Pete Sandoval, Hannes Grossmann,

Worst? Burzum. Abbath (I think Immortal had to speed up all their tracks)

Yeah, Simon Phillips is one hell of a drummer, although outside of Sin After Sin he hasn't done too much metal stuff (Michael Schenker & Joe Satriani are kinda borderline though). He's awesome even now...his playing on this jazz fusion album (by a stellar keyboardist named Hiromi) that came out last year is friggin' incredible. Really difficult stuff, and he's all over it.

Add Mike Sus to this list. All of them are great!

Täysi Susi, hahah. Totally belongs there.

Godflesh's drum machine would be my choice. It's work on 'Streetcleaner' is just sublime.

Seriously though, I was on the fence about Hellhammer before seeing Mayhem live. It wasn't their best day all round, Hellhammer however, was stunning and saved the show for me. Whatever he may be like in the studio he gives a very memorable live performance. I also love Trym's style, but agree that his drumming has never sounded any good in the studio, particularly on Enslaved's 'Frost', which basically ruined the album for me; too loud, too many fills and generally overpowering all other instruments.

Most of the other greats have already been mentioned. I'd have to say I just prefer a drummer with their own style and signature that you can instantly identify rather than technical ability.

Also can't believe no one has mentioned Akhenaten of Judas Iscariot for terrible. I really like some of his stuff, but even when I was a black metal novice I could tell that there was some very shoddy drum going on on those earlier records.

Metal needs more sloppy drummers who play on the borders of their abilities.

Why, I do agree, though the drummers' sloppiness shouldn't affect other musicians' performance (as terrible timing, for one thing, consequently will).

Worst drummer: Abbath
Best drummer (that I've seen): Dave Suzuki. I got to see VR a few years back and was totally blown away by how easy he made it all look.