The world of metal drums is incredibly vast and unique. Metal has so many sub-genres, which has resulted in hundreds of drummers making their mark in the industry with their incredible skills.
Although I’m not the biggest metal fan, I grew up listening to Iron Maiden, and I listen to a lot of modern metal bands.
If you are looking for some good metal drummers to check out, here is the ultimate list. Every drummer I mention below is extremely talented and most of them will be remembered for many years to come.
Mike Portnoy
Mike Portnoy is Dream Theater’s original drummer. Although he was away from the band for over a decade, he recently rejoined the band after completing some solo work projects with the bandmates.
Many call Mike Portnoy one of the best metal drummers of all time. Music released by Dream Theater at the end of the 20th centuryth Century is exciting, and many of its most complex parts come directly from Portnoy’s ideas.
He has incredible speed with his gear, but what impresses me most is his technical ability.
Dave Lombardo
Dave Lombardo is another influential drummer in the metal music industry. He is best known for playing drums for Slayer, but he has also been involved in several other successful projects.
The reason why he is so popular is that many consider him to be one of the pioneer drummers of the thrash metal scene. He was a huge inspiration to a lot of drummers who used double bass drum pedals and double bass drum setups.
Fire Dale
Brann Dailor plays drums and vocals in the band Mastodon. He was an incredible drummer, but I think what really set him apart was his creative use of bass drum patterns.
He rarely uses double bass compared to most other drummers on this list, so when busy bass patterns appear on a Mastodon track it always sounds impactful.
Joey Jordison
Joey Jordison was the original drummer for Slipknot, and I think a lot of people would agree with me when I say that he was one of the most influential metal drummers of the late 90s and early 2000s.
I know dozens of drummers who started playing because of him, and during Slipknot’s heyday he was widely considered one of the best drummers in the world.
He sadly passed away due to illness in 2021, and it’s incredible that the entire music community has come together to pay tribute to him. This goes to show how much of an impact Joey had on the music industry, not just metal musicians.
Joey’s drumming style is very fast and technical. He was also very creative, using snare and tom accents in odd places where no one was doing that at the time.
Gene Hoagland
Gene Hoglan is a main member of several metal bands, including Dethklok, Testament, Dark Angel and Fear Factory.
While his drumming is full of power and energy, he is very similar to Danny Carey in how he creatively uses percussion to enhance his drum parts.
He is a fairly accomplished drummer in the metal music industry, as he has recorded drums for dozens of albums by different bands.
Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a drummer that many feel should not be on this list. He’s definitely the least technically gifted drummer I’ll mention, but you can’t ignore his impact on the metal music industry.
He has been a key member of Metallica since its inception, one of the most famous metal bands of all time.
If you’ve been the drummer for a well-respected metal band for decades, your name will undoubtedly appear on lists of the best metal drummers.
There are a lot of videos of Russ messing around with drum parts on stage, but he also wrote these drum parts in the studio and they’re all very memorable.
While it’s debatable to say Lars is a good drummer, I definitely think he’s one of the most influential drummers on this list, as many of the top metal drummers grew up listening to Metallica.
Chris Adler
Chris Adler was a main member of Lamb of God for more than two decades before leaving the band in 2019.
One of the key features of Adler’s drumming was that his drummers played with their bare hands. This allows him to program patterns on the kit in different ways, giving his drums a very unique sound.
George Collias
George Kollias is one of the current members of Nile. I often think of him when I think of those classic metal drummers who excelled at playing blast beats and glitches.
He has extremely fast foot speed and is able to reach very high BPM when playing bass drum patterns.
Nile has had several drummers over the years, but Kollias has been one of the band’s most consistent members.
Jimmy “Pastor” Sullivan
Rev was another hugely influential metal drummer who died far too soon. He was one of the original members of Avenged Sevenfold and made many contributions to the band’s songwriting.
He had a unique way of playing the drums and I remember trying to learn some of his signature licks when I was younger.
He made one that matched the bass drum to the bells and it always sounded incredible.
He died in 2009, and Avenged Sevenfold has had several drummers since then. None of them could match the impact Jimmy Sullivan had on the band.
He also sings a lot, a trait not found in many drummers.
Nick McBrien
Nicko McBrain has been one of the biggest names in metal for decades thanks to his work with Iron Maiden. He was not the band’s original drummer, but soon became its most notorious after joining.
After he joined, the band began to gain fame, so the band began writing songs based on his drumming style in the 1980s. The rest is history!
Igor Cavalera
Igor Cavalera is the original drummer of the band Sepultura. His playing style is very similar to the band’s current drummer Eloy Casagrande.
Cavalera is from Brazil, so his playing is influenced by Brazil and is full of rhythm and energy.
He is also very interested in hip-hop music, which is a big influence on his drumming style. The combination of hip hop and Latin music is perfect for metal music!
