Hi.

I'm looking for albums where the the drummer actually keeps working; changing beats, tempo and do a lot of breaks and fills, even though the song is pretty basic. It doesn't (in fact I think it's better if it isn't) have to be a fast (ie. super fast, grindcore/technical death metal) song.

To give you some ideas of what I mean, here are some albums that I think fits what I'm looking for:

Metal Church - Metal Church
Corrosion of Conformity - Blind
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance

But it could be fast songs, if the drummer sounds like he's playing at 3x speed like on Mithras - On Strange Loops.

I'm not sure if I have explained it so it makes any sense for you, but we'll see Thnx!

IMHO, Mayhem's "Grand Declaration Of War" is pretty technical and complex when it comes to the drumwork.

First three Absu albums might be like what you're looking for. My favorite is Sun of Tiphareth. I mean, just listen to this! Isn't it impressive? Proscriptor is probably one of my favorite drummers in black metal.


Might want to check Abigor's Nachthymnen as well. I can't say much about the rest of their material (not too well acquainted with the band myself), but I think this album has one of the most adept drummers in black metal.

Basically this album is all you'll need to satisfy your request:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxLaxQyBGjE

Speaking of Proscriptor, Melechesh - Sphynx would also be a good one for the OP to check out.

Seconded! Thomas Tannenberger (usually credited as T.T.) is no slouch. T.T. also handles bass and guitar duties.

Abigor before the departure of Silenius (after Supreme Immortal Art) is the best Abigor. Opus and Supreme Immortal Art both rule, though Opus contains more aggressive drumming like that heard on Nachthymnen (SIA a bit more subdued in places, I feel)...

While not really technical i like a lot the rapid variations and and fills of Dystopia's Human=Garbage and The Atermath compilations, in some songs he doesn't seem to play the same ryhtm twice

Thanx for the recs. That Macabre album really hit the feels for me, even though I'm not 100 % sold on the singers voice though. But hey, after a while Confessor - Condemned didn't bother me so I'll probably dig this album a lot in a little while.

Whatever album Uli Kusch plays on. That guy got to be one of the most fun drummers there is.

I feel that Mike Smail from Penance should be mentioned for his role on Cathedral's debut "Forest of Equilibrium". His style of drumming is fairly busy for a doom drummer, lots of syncopations and fills, and never falls into that tedious "boom.......... crash........." trap that a lot of doom drummers fall into.

Get one of the more recent Maiden live albums ? Old Nicko can still do it, and a lot of Maiden's stuff from the late 80s / 90s has a surpassing amount of interesting drum stuff going on.

Mystik's 'Mystik' I remember having decent drumming too, lots more going on than you usually get with trad metal.

The Crimson Idol is basically made of random drum fills throughout every song, surprising amount of tempo shifts and so on for a reformed hair metalist.

Mikkey Dee in King Diamond is my absolute favorite when it comes to interesting and innovative drumming. Snowy Shaw who replaced him in KD is also magnificent but he really shines on the first two Memento Mori albums.
Sean Reinert's and Gene Hoglan's work in Death is absolutely amazing and I think both set new standards in metal drumming.
Robb Reiner of Anvil is fantastic and very underrated. Forged in Fire would be the ideal album for me.
I have a very soft spot for Greg Hall (Sacred Reich), particularly his work in the great albums and EP (Ignorance, Surf Nicaragua and The American Way)
Ray Hartmann similarly did an amazing job in the first two Annihilator albums. Same for Paul Bostaph and Forbidden.
Mark Zonder (Warlord, Fates Warning), Norm Leggio (Psychotic Waltz). Speaking of Psychotic Waltz and FW, I guess lots of prog metal would fit the description by default and you mentioned Confessor, so you don't have a problem with complex stuff. Mike Portnoy is the one element that never got boring with Dream Theater. I would also wholeheartedly recommend his work on Arch's Twist of Fate. Fantastic EP too if you like Arch era FW.

+1 for Uli Kusch and I would add Thomen the Omen from Blind Guardian in the list of power metal drummers that tickled my fancy. I guess Jorg Michael should be mentioned here but although he did a good job in Running Wild (esp.) and Stratovarius (too one-dimensional and predictable though), I think his best work is in Mekong Delta and Headhunter.

I dunno how you feel about Mastodon but Brann is pretty awesome (I'd recommend The Hunter, athough that's not the usual rec for Mastodon... ymmv)

I just happen to listen to Clandestine at this very moment, and reading this I started to pay attention; I must say Nicke Andersson is doing a pretty damn good job mixing it up behind the kit here.

It sounds like you might like Ted Kirkpatrick of Tourniquet



Based on what you're already listening to. In interviews, he says when he's gone, he hopes he's remembered to playing drums "like a musical instrument instead of a timekeeper".

I always loved Dino's drumming on Human = Garbage. Very hyperactive and expressive for such depressive sludge metal.

Thanx for the additional tips!
Never actually listened to Anvil (but of course I know of them), some interesting drums for sure.
As for Uli Kusch I must admit that I stopped listening to Helloween after the Seven Keys era so not really my thing anymore. BUT! I looked him up and realized that he plays drums on Holy Moses - The New Machine of Liechtenstein, which just happens to be a favorite album of mine! So I might have to check out some more of his work.
And I haven't listened to Mekong Delta in ages, but their early stuff is amazing. And in regards to Mastodon; Curl of The Burl is probably my favorite song by them so, right on the spot there.
Nicke Andersson is probably top three drummers ever, in my book, so obvious choice there
Tourniquet is a new discovery for me, but sounds very interesting, thnx!

If you're into black metal I would highly recommend Mgla and Kriegsmaschine. Darkside's the drummer of both bands, but he just keeps getting better with each album so I'd start on some of the latest released by both Mgla and Kriegsmaschine as he gets better and more creative with each release.

Exercises in Futility and With Hearts Toward None by Mgla.
Enemy of Man and Apocalypticists by Kriegsmaschine.

I'm going to try and mention some drummers that in my opinion are not so well known. We're all aware of the usual suspects, but there's so many killer drummers out there. While I do agree that extreme metal has created lots of speed demons that are impressive but also unidemensional and therefore boring, there's still some folks who understand drumming is not a sport and it should never be.

In my opinion, no metal drumming conversation should exclude the great Nick Barker. OK, he's pretty well known, but he's a drumming god, there's no way around it. From the old Cradle classics, to his stuff with Dimmu (his work on Puritanical is mind blowing), Old Man's Child, Lock Up, amongst others, his playing is so unique and full of flavour, really tasty stuff. The way he builds his drum parts just sets him aside. A drumming legend that I believe is still underrated because people don't really like the bands he plays (played) with and also maybe because he never stayed with any of them for long.

Asgeir Mickelson from Borknagar, Ihsahn and Spiral Architect. This dude can play anything anyone can throw at him. From crazy fast black metal to absolutely insane prog shit, this guy can do it all and do it well. His work on Ihsahn's After is the stuff of legend.

David Grey from Akercocke fame is not just your typical blaster, he mixes things up always keeping you engaged and guessing. His work with Voices is also incredible. You won't get bored when he's behind the kit.

Darkside dude is an absolute monster. While his work with Mgla is impressive, his playing with Kriegsmachine is just amazing. No blasting here, but that doesn't make it less intense, quite the contrary. A must listen for fans of metal drumming.

Everyone raves about Mike Portnoy and Jason Rullo, right? Well, if you're into the kind of music they play, check out Thomas Lejon from Swedish band Andromeda and you'll be in for a treat.

Hannes Grossman is pretty famous by now, I guess, but he deserves all the credit he gets. Dude can play anything, from the sickest death metal (Obscura, Alkaloid, Hate Eternal) to crazy proggy stuff (Blotted Science) to pure evil black metal like Thy Darkened Shade (amazing band, by the way). Any record he's on, you know you're in good hands.

Travis Foster from Yob is probably my favourite Doom/Sludge drummer. He manages sound like you'd expect from a doom metal drummer while being always present, never boring and predictable by being over simplistic, and that is harder to manage than just blast your ass off all the time.

This is a pretty cool idea for a thread, metal drumming is an interest topic for endless debate and there's lots of cool cats out there, keep 'em coming.

I always liked Mortification - Post Momentary Affliction's drums

I just realised that the poster above me had already mentioned Darkside... Sorry! At any rate, it should tell you something that two people in a row just mentioned him... he's a great drummer and you should check him out.

Also, don't know how I managed to forget about Jamie Saint Merat from Ulcerate. This dude is probably my favourite extreme metal drummer as of today. He's creative and unique, his drum parts are inventive and marry the nature of the music perfectly, as he is not limited to the typical metal drumming techniques. It helps that the band is absolutely amazing.

I'd like to also add Sean Taylor from NWOBHM legends Satan to the list. His playing is always tastefully done, and judging from your first post, I believe his style is precisely what you're searching for. All the records are top notch also!

Ok more stuff, thank you!
Out of these I'd say that Kriegsmaschine and Andromeda were fantastic tips. Exactly what I was thinking of.
And as you all said, all of the persons mentioned are truly great drummers, but thats another topic

I'll also provide some tips of my own. Realizing that a certain kind of music that I truly enjoy usually have the drummers working pretty hard behind the kit even though the music isn't fast is the 70s inspired fuzz rock/metal that has become (at least here in Sweden) very popular in the last couple of years. I mean the music is like it was created so that drummers could play around doing breaks and fills
So if you don't mind listening to the genre I strongly advise you to check out bands like Skraeckoedlan, Greenleaf, Graveyard, Truckfighters, Horisont among others.

Just for curiousity's sake, this is what happens when you play pop punk with a tech death drummer:

Disharmonic Orchestra never disappoints!

Confessor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z4isS_NajU

I was highly disappointed with Sepultura's ' Roorback', and just the other week I tried 'Machine Messiah'. I've read people admire Eloy Casagrande's drumming, and boy, he definitely is busy at times. Actually, the whole album surprised me with its quality.

The first one that came to mind for me was Kim Ruzz of Mercyful Fate.

The albums they did with him were rather technical (in my opinion), and his drumming is very, very interesting and varied in tempo and style. A highly underrated drummer, if you ask me.

I don't believe Kim Ruzz ever played in any bands after Mercyful Fate disbanded. Instead he became a postman (among other things) and chose to lead an ordinary life. So much potential and talent gone in an instant.

Sure, Mercyful Fate is not as heavy as some of the other bands suggested here, but it's some of the best heavy metal ever released in my opinion.

A few examples of his very interesting drumming:

Early stuff

Doomed By The Living Dead


Devil Eyes (these beats are really unique for metal, and pretty damn cool)


Melissa

Evil


Satan's Fall


Into The Coven


Don't Break The Oath

Nightmare


Night Of The Unborn


A Dangerous Meeting


Gypsy


The Oath


Just a few cool examples.

I'd like to add that Macabre's Dahmer basically starts with nine songs of filler and then goes into killer after killer after killer. Very slow starting album.

I can't believe that I haven't thought of this until now, especially considering that he's my favorite drummer!

Maybe it was because you said you weren't looking for very fast music. Maybe it's because I'm simply too accustomed to listening to him. I don't know. But either way, here goes:

The greatest example for me of a non-lazy drummer would be Janne Saarenpää, formerly of The Crown. What an absolute beast of a drummer, always busy on the drums, with great fills and beats.

There are way too many great examples to mention. Basically I'd have to tell you to check out all the albums with Janne to see what I mean, haha.

But here's a little teaser from an intimate show back in the day, with a lot of close-ups of Janne:

Perhaps not the perfect example for your request, but I remember how the drummer of my second band back in the day always looked like he was going to cum when Xytras "did that thing" in the intro at about 27 seconds.

Speaking of Xytras, he later switched to drum programming and did an amazing job at that, but this album is the best album ever by an actual drummer doing drum programming:

If you're into black metal check Svartidaudi, Magnus is a beast. Both their albums are great

Hah! Funny that you’d mention Janne, I had him on my top 5 favorite drummers list

Good day to you! From some new material of black metal subgenres you might be interested in the works of Harry Canwill who plays drums for Bosse-de-Nage. Fast paced, rich on fills and bridges he is as speedy as technical although it is clear that his style is influenced by some sludge or post-hardcore drumming techniques. Good listening nontheless

Fates Warning - Perfect Symmetry