Steve Jacobs (amazing work with FORBIDDEN, although those albums could've been better)

Kirk Arrington (hands-down the most underrated. Should've been in METALLICA! Imagine how great that would've been.)

Mark Zonder (he gets some love occasionally but considering how great his playing was in WARLORD and FATES WARNING it's not enough)

Mikky Dee (they still haven't been able to adequately replace him in KING DIAMOND's band)

Rick Colacula (inimitable style)

Randy Foxe, ex-Manilla Road drummer. His drumming on LPs like The Deluge, Mystification and Open the Gates is symply amazing. It's too bad he left the band after the 1990 LP Courts of Chaos.

Mark Zonder, ex-Warlord and ex-Fates Warning. If you'd leave out the guitars, vocals and bass on a song Zonder plays on, you'd still have an amazing track. A lot of times I listen to Warlord, I just focus on his drumming. Amazing.

Lance Garvin (Living Sacrifice, Soul Embraced)

Mat Stancioiu (brings a wonderful heap of influence from the Sean Reinert, etc, school to power metal...a master of answering the question of 'what can be done with this rhythm?' see Labyrinth tracks: This World, Lost, Neverending Rest)

Rick Colaluca (one electric drum set, one acoustic drum set, and more interesting work on 2 albums then Peart had through most of the 80's, see WatchTower tracks: The Eldritch, Energetic Disassembly, Control and Resistance)

Antonio Leon (blends old school death metal feel with new school technicality and ferocity, never descends into br00taldom for the sake of itself, the influence of Lombardo does abound, see The Chasm tracks: Fortress, Procreation of the Inner Temple, Dark Cloud)

Horgh (a signature pummeling mix of black metal and thrash with fierce, fierce precision, see Immortal tracks: One By One, Triumph, Solarfall)

Mike Terrana (a 'power drummer' with a big bag of jazz tricks who has played in every European metal band there is at this point, an unstoppable visage of Mike Portnoy but with personality, see......stuff from Rage, Axel Rudi Pell, or his solo work.)

Side note: Never really understood what you hear in LABYRINTH, THE CHASM, or RAGE's music. I hear no good guitar riffs there.

Wayne Noon

I hate the Gothenburg influence in most DM too but I hear nothing of value in ARGHOSLENT or THE CHASM. Never understood the hype around those bands.

Melodic DM that I like: DEATH, DISINCARNATE, OPPRESSOR, etc. etc.

Ted Kirkpatrick.

Lars Ulrich is so widely hated nowadays that he's probably considered "underrated" now

Forgot to mention Clive Burr. His drumming is one of the many things that make early Maiden so amazing.

1. Scott Columbus (Manowar)


2. Ken Mary (Chastain, Fifth Angel, House of Lords)

Joey Baron
David Gray
Steve Asheim
Mick Harris
Nick Byckoff
Jan Axel Blomberg
Bob Bagchus
Alex Hernandez
Mike Smith
Tim Yeung

Stian Lindaas Kristoffersen (Pagans Mind) also has drummed for Jorn Lande and Firewind...

This guy blows me away with his style and technique but yet I have never ever heard this mans name mentioned once. Listen to him shine on the track below.

also..Arghoslent better than The Chasm? Better than a band whose entire career is built around utter passion in their delivery and atmosphere, all three of which are hugely lacking in today's death metal? Another tech-death band that has classic-ish riffs pasted onto their music to help push the horribly plastic 'epicness' of a message that doesn't even mean anything when it even bothers to show up? Better than a band that worships at Celtic Frost, early Slayer, and Sabbath, and has made a blend that somehow stays unique and recognizable within the scene...? I don't mean to bash or anything. I'm just surprised at the choice of band to compare.....Totally different worlds, I think..

Death Metal: Mike Smith

(previously mentioned by mc666)