By Brian Tonkin

Many popular metal bands are known for their skilled musicians, particularly their drummers. It’s hard to narrow down the drummers of these genres into just five great ones.

NOTE: This list is based off of sheer raw speed and talent, not how inspirational they are in metal. Unfortunately, I won’t mention any old-school heavy metal band.

5) Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad (Frost)

                Fabled Black Metal drummer from the iconic bands Gorgoroth and Satyricon. Frost is famous for ridiculous blast-beating and double-bass kicking. Most Black metal drummers are known for this, but Frost is at the front in terms of talent.

4) Gene Hoglan

Hoglan has been in many popular Death/ Thrash Metal bands in his lifetime. These bands include the original Death Metal band… Death,  Thrash Metal superstars, Testament, and even the beloved Dethklok.

3) Tomas Haake

Drummer and song-writer for Swedish Death Metal band, Meshuggah. It is common knowledge that Haake not only writes his song using a calculator, but also uses all four of his legs when performing a song.

2) Jon Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer)

Hellhammer is Black Metal… all things Black Metal have originated from him in some way. He has played in nearly every large Black Metal group since 1990, including Immortal, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Mayhem, and many more. He is also known to guest-star in many small time bands just for the fun of it, such as his appearance in Lord Impaler’s album, Admire the Cosmos Black.

WARNING: Listening to any song played by Hellhammer has been known to cause severe bleeding from the ears, nausea, and possible death.

1) George Kollias.

God-like drummer from the American Death Metal band, Nile. From double bass kicking to blast beating and drum fills, there is no soul on this earth faster than Kollias. On top of being a metal deity, Kollias teaches drum technique at a music school in Athens.

By Brian Tonkin
Since the dawn of man, people have always argued. We argue over just about anything and if you have a point to make, it will surely be met with retaliation. However, there is one exception. Nearly all logical musicians, fans, critics, or really just anybody would agree the “Dimebag” Darrel Abbot is the greatest guitar player to walk this earth. From a combination of love for music and shear shredding abilities, there are few who rival the guitar god.

Emerging form the great American Southwest in 1981, Pantera became one of the leading metal groups of the decade. Pantera’s front man, Darrel Abbot, could easily be the head influence on all modern guitarists. In 2003, after a long and glorious reign on the top of the music industry, Pantera split up and the members went their separate ways. Darrel and his brother, Vinnie Paul Abbot, started a new group, Damageplan. The group got off to an early but short lived success. As the band was playing a concert in Ohio, a schizophrenic fan rushed the stage and proceeded to fire a gun at the members. The man was killed by local police officers but the damage had been done. Four men were killed, one of which was the beloved heavy metal legend, Darrel Abbot.

Last Thursday, December 8th, marked the seven year anniversary of the shooting.  Although his life was tragically cut short, Darrel’s legacy lives on through his musical masterpieces and the many close friends he had in life. On Black Label Society’s hit album, Mafia, fellow guitar god Zakk Wylde pays tribute to his lost friend during the song “In This River”. He was just one of millions who mourns the loss of a true metal hero.

R.I.P. “Dimebag” Darrel Abbot

August 20th, 1966 - December 8th, 2004

By Brian Tonkin

Just take one look at the Epitaph tour and you’ll know how important Judas Priest is to the heavy metal world. On their farewell tour, the great Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society opened for them. After Zakk Wylde finished shredding for what seemed to be a millennium, the great British invaders were ready to show Salt Lake City the meaning of rock.

The Metal Gods took the stage starting out with Rapid Fire and the show escalated from that point on. Rob Halford, despite being 60 years old, hit every high note like a true rocker. This being their final tour, Priest wanted to go out with a bang. After playing fifteen songs, including The Sentinal, Turbo Lover, Starbreaker and other hits, the band was seemingly finished, but that’s just not the metal way.  A familiar guitar riff filled the arena and the jubilant crowd began to cheer. The whole stadium echoed with the words “Breaking the law, breaking the law…”, Halford's vocals could hardly be heard over the mass yelling.

    Finishing the night with the classic, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming , the members gave a bow and left the stage. It’s hard to think that they will never be here again. Forty years of heavy metal is at an end, just a few more concerts until Priest is officially done. From Rocka-Rolla to Nostradamus, Judas Priest has been the iconic metal band, the god of the gods. Starting in the United Kingdom in the late 60’s, Judas Priest, along with Black Sabbath, were the first heavy metal groups ever.  So if you want to catch one last glimpse of pure unadulterated METAL, the Epitaph World Tour is your chance to rock.