Most Memorable metal songs, by the drums
I recently watched Rick Beato’s Top 20 GREATEST Drum Sounds Of All Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUhLQY0XxUg
Naturally, as an experienced producer, he has a more qualified opinion than most, certainly myself. None the less, here are some tracks that I like for a list of my own.
These tracks are a combination of well produced, excellent musicianship and huge emotional bias on my part. And exclusively metal. I happen to think that some of the best drum tracks can be found on this list, but of course, that is a matter of opinion, and the next 30 or so opinions are (mostly) mine.
In no particular order (except number one, which is, in fact, number one), my favourite and most memorable tracks with particular interest in the drums.
Laid to rest — Ashes of the wake — Lamb of God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oVW8gcse4g
Pulsating, tempo setting. Signature Chris Adler double-kicks-before-the-snare. Wonderful use of feet and is well and truly the backbone of the song tempo, which dictates the emotional valence of the song.
Gunshot To The Head of Trepidation — Ascendancy — Trivium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNN12F2WIao
Golden Gods quickest feet drummer. Really crisp kicks and really playful tempo shifts that are well articulated in various sections of the song. Toms are something special, really punchy and the left-right pan does creates a really cool effect.
Anesthetize — Fear of a blank planet — Porcupine Tree
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSEQZ8reJA4
17 minutes of Surgical precision. Excellent production, and Gavin Harrison is simply a master at layering the emotion that essentially traverses three emotionally unique sections of a complex song. A video of him performing the middel section of the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6suv3mraIhw
Terminally unique — Resolution — Lamb of God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM9NPejBpLI
Adler magic. The drums really make this song, as the guitar riffing is not the traditional Lamb of God style fast alternate picking, especially in the chorus, but the drums still bring the Lamb of God intensity.
Not your slave — Rise to power — Battlecross
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEneoScUDjA>
Spot on modern metal drum production, excellent tempo, lots of drums but not overplayed.
BloodDrunk — BloodDrunk — Children Of Bodom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FpyoD2MLAU
Angry heavy drums with massive kick sound. Such a talented drummer, understated, really allow the other instruments to carry the accents. In my opinion one of the best drummers. A true porter (Sherpa) carrying the luggage / gear of the climbers that reach the top of Mount Everest.
Regular People (Conceit) — Vulgar — Pantera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81CQqZ5KNt8
Piercing, perfect bass support. One of two pairs of brothers on this list, where the drummer and guitarist seem have some telepathic connection. The drums are so well knit into the song fabric that is basically a percussive overtone of the guitar riffing, rather an instrument in its own right.
Feiticeira — White Pony — Deftones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft5c4sAJ_gI
I can only describe this as “Sticky drums”. The unique, unpredictable nature of the kick makes it addictive, and one cannot help learning the pattern, as I did for a significant part of the year 2000.
Of wolf and man — Black — Metallica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P58xWcSLt_8
Epitome of the black album IMO. This is Lars at his best, trying to shatter his snare on every strike. The kick is massive. Probably the biggest kick in all of recorded metal drums. Perfect pacing for the very album that propelled Metallica in to the stratosphere.
Leviathan — Phronesis — Monuments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMRIpTcQRhg
Perfectly tight modern drumming to accompany one of the most creative and naturally percussive guitar styles and excellent tight accents for polyrhythm-central. The outtro, is guitar-drum harmony incomprehensible.
Cortisone — Enemy Within — Pestroy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCLYWk8KnwU
Adler-like sticky drums. I am biased, because I grew up on this shit at live venues all around Gauteng. These drums line the soundtrack of my youth.
The warmth — Make yourself — Incubus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeHddLI-aY8
Lazy Jazz, perfect big kick, big floor tom and tight echoing snare, excellent bass compliment and vocal emphasis.
Sic — Slipknot — Slipknot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3I3-KTJbtY
Who can forget? Auditory overload! Joey Jordison is a genre-re-defining drummer. It defies quantification.
Oath of silence — Conclusion of an age — Sylosis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j_V5TGgUtw
Tight and thrashy guitars, with the perfect metal drum compliment. Punchiest and tightest kick, almost muted, but on a good sound system it kicks you right in the chest!
Born in Winter — L’Enfaunt Savage — Gojira
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suG-c_i2fBQ
Perfectly produced, big kick, crisp snare, stylish variations, perfect example of the quality production on the album. Such a layered performance. Given the guitar track, it is pretty much a drummers blank canvas and though a complex piece, the drummer shows excellent restraint.
Tendinitis — Jason Richardson & Luke Holland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSMeE6os9XY
The creativity and originality on the drums + production top notch modern drum sound. This guitar track demands massive drum backup and it is there in bucket loads.
Straight out of line — Faceless — Godsmack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQESH4u3ZXA
New drummer announces himself with a massive track, incorporating some of the stylistic elements from the departing drummer, but adds a layer of precision.
Voodoo — Godsmack — Godsmack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SSUQxGjZZ4
Song that immortalised the former drummer, the lazy playing style, almost dragging, that defined the first 2 albums.
Meridian — Constellations — August Burns Red
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pXQD4nix-w
Perfect example of Matt Greiner’s talent. Dynamic, huge drive on the pre-snare kicks, a la Chris Adler style. A perfect balance between restraint, aggression and blast beats.
My generation — Limp Bizkit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE9CXWV1alg
Standout hip hop drums, with production that emphasizes the Nu-metal style. Fluffy kick by metal standards, but really has a catchy groove.
The Martyr — Paradigm in Entropy — Bleed the sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WkifVXFtbQ
One of the most underrated drums tracks of all time in my opinion. Perfect dragging lazy style drumming to emphasize a massive track. Makes the song, the punctuation and accentuation, stop and go dissonance creates so much tension in the song. Played with zero restraint, and it is perfect!
Higher — The Stage — Avenged Sevenfold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpha0NDE1Qc
One of the most creative drums tracks ever. The kick and muted snare rims are special indeed. It takes some doing to bring a drum track like this to a metal group that mourned the death of a talent like the Rev.
Bat Country — City of evil — Avenged Sevenfold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHS3qJdxefY
Interesting punchy production on the snare. A classic example of his talent as a drummer, crisp kicks, chimy ride.
Twice the price — The king is fat’n’old — Destrage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8kA-sY-cCc
Driving kicks, excellent variation, brutally heavy! Video of the playthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q5muDbf8Mo
The end is here — One day remains — Alter Bridge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPD-vVj8QR8
Scot Phillips is finally set free. Lovely lazy kick style and then towards the latter half of the song he progressively finds his kick!!
6:00 — Awake — Dream Theatre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55-yoflzRtE
You can’t compile a list of drum tracks without Portnoy’s polyrhythmic magic. Some of the best production and playing you are ever likely to hear. It should be number one, but it it isn’t because Chris Adler.
Soulfly II — Primative — Soulfly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alDyO8Lf6dU
Bongos are the perfect percussive backtrack to dreamy tune.
Demanufacture — Demanufacture — Fear Factory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Q7yaDqLqs
Robotic precision — tight and punchy, bedrock. Perfect syncronization with Dino’s right hand. Drums programs aren’t this tight, and when you see it live, it feels like an endless magic trick. I don’t know if they use sample replacement, I would not be surprised, I don’t know much about drum production. But I do have ears, and they are happy when this shit gets in there when Fear Factory is on my playlist.
Funeral — Rebirth of the temple — Silent Civlian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFHlup2PLLo
Kick-friendly drummer, really pushes the tempo with the his alternating between almost anxious driving kicks and punctuated accenting double kick patterns. They lost big when he left.
Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis — Shogun — Trivium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBBPN_GmZe8
Goddamn makes you sad that Travis Smith left. What a talented drummer. Also some of the best produced drums from his era with the band.
Martyr — Found in faraway places — August Burns Red
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3adxQOQmbTM
Matt Greiner is incredible. This drums mix also sounds like it wants to demolish something. Really compressed kick, very punchy.
Bare your teeth — Ceasing to breathe — Still remains
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f7yfWMsiPY
Metalcore drums, kick heavy and overproduced, but it makes the point, and make it real good. Few other drum styles transition from double kick-laden to, kick-snare-kick-snare, quite as metalcorishly as this song.
The Revanchist — The sin and the sentence — Trivium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBs5EVrAwNo
Welcoming back the first proper drummer since Travis Smith left. Second appearance for Alex Brent (formerly Battlecross) on this list. Great production and excellent structure and variation. This song could so easily have sounded staccato / interrupted if a lesser drummer were are the helm. I think very highly of Alex Brent as a drummer.
Nocturne — Altered State — Tesseract
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=get0cXOsSXg
It is one of those songs where I remember where I was when I heard it the first time. Wonderfully understated drumming, tight with the bass and guitar, simply poetic through a maze of odd time signatures.
