Top Ten Most Influential Metal Drummers

The Top Ten
1 Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he joined in 1982.

Check out his drumming on where eagles dare and you will see that he's the best.

Great and the seminal drummer!

I think best on planet earth

2 Dave Lombardo of Slayer, Testament David "Dave" Lombardo is a Cuban American drummer, best known as a co-founding member of the American thrash metal band Slayer.
3 Mike Portnoy of Dream Dreater Michael Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater. Known for his technical skill as a drummer, Portnoy has won 30 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine.
4 Cozy Powell of Rainbow, Black Sabbath Colin Trevor "Cozy" Powell was an English rock drummer, who made his name with many major rock bands and artists like The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Robert Plant, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath.

Metal greats begin with him. His work on the Rainbow Rising album was very influential (1976).

He's probably the first typical metal drummer because he focused on fast and technical drumming; reduced blues, RNR beats, etc. - later all these things became typical features of metal drumming.

He was very talented.

5 Ian Paice of Deep Purple Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the English rock band Deep Purple. He has been the band's only constant member since its foundation.

The guy who introduced double bass drumming in metal (1971).

I'd say this is extremely influential. And Ian Paice is extremely underrated.

6 Danny Carey of Tool Daniel Edwin "Danny" Carey, born May 10, 1961 in Lawrence, Kansas, is an American drummer and instrumentalist best known for his work in American Grammy Award-winning progressive rock band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by and played with such artists as Zaum, Green Jellÿ, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew of King Crimson, Carole King, Collide, The Wild Blue Yonder, Lusk, and the Melvins. Carey's popularity among drummers and non-drummers stems from the diversity of his sound and dynamics through his years of learning jazz music, his technical ability, frequent use of odd time signatures, polyrhythms and polymeters. He has stated in interviews that he effectively treats his feet as he does his hands: he practices rudiments (used for sticking techniques) and even snare drum solos with his feet to improve his double bass drumming, hi-hat control and foot independence.
7 Bill Ward of Black Sabbath

His drumming on songs like War Pigs defines metal.

8 Scott Travis of Judas Priest Mark Scott Travis is a Grammy Award winning American rock musician, best known as the drummer for the English heavy metal band Judas Priest and the American heavy metal band Racer X.
9 Mike Mangini of Annihilator, Dream Theater Mike Mangini is an American drummer. Since 2010, he has been a member of progressive metal band Dream Theater, following the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy.

He was the 1st person in history to break 1,200 notes when he played 1,203 single notes at the 2005 Winter NAMM Session.

His influence was even multiplied because he shared his experience as a Full-time associate professor at Berklee College of Music, Percussion Department.

10 Joey Jordison of Slipknot Joey Jordison, was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work as the former drummer and co-songwriter for the heavy metal band Slipknot as well as guitarist in the Horror-punk band Murderdolls. He is the co-founder and drummer for the Blackened Death Metal band Sinsaenum and a Heavy Metal side project VIMIC.
The Contenders
11 Tomas Haake of Meshuggah Tomas Haake is a Swedish drummer and main songwriter of the experimental metal band Meshuggah. He is known for his polyrhythms and technical ability. In 2012, he was named the 5th best Modern Metal drummer by MetalSucks.net. He was named the number one drummer in the "Metal" category, in the July 2008 edition of Modern Drummer magazine, as decided upon in the magazine's Readers' Poll.
12 Nick Menza of Megadeth
13 Lars Ulrich of Metallica
14 Chris Adler of Lamb of God Christopher James Adler is an American drummer, best known as a member and founder of the groove metal band Lamb of God, and Grammy Award winning member of Megadeth.
15 Gene Hoglan of Dark Angel, Death Eugene "Gene" Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer. He is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms.
16 Vinnie Paul of Pantera Vincent Paul Abbott, better known as "Vinnie Paul" (March 11, 1964 - June 22nd, 2018) was an American professional drummer and producer. Alongside his late brother Dimebag Darrell, he co-founded the Heavy Metal Bands Pantera and Damageplan, with whom he would find success with in the former. After the passing of Dimebag and the dissolution of Damageplan, Vinnie would later join another band, Hellyeah. Vinnie died of a heart attack in June 2018.
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