Now this track by The Agonist is an absolute raging headbanger, check out drummer Simon McKay lay his drum kit to waste.
Canada’s The Agonist blend extreme/death metal with soaring female clean vocals to create a unique sound of their own. Formed in 2004 (and originally called The Tempest) the band have toured all over the world and released five albums in their time. The latest being album Five, which was released late last year. The band often use some discordant melodies and sounds which gives them their own female-fronted slant on extreme metal.
This drum playthrough, from the band’s show in Denver at the Summit Theatre in November 2016, is a fun one. Drummer Simon McKay keeps the drums pounding and relentless throughout, and as a result, it’s a really interesting watch. He keeps a real persistent feel with his use of blast beats, double kicks and lots of cheeky tom and snare drum rolls. Some of the fills remind me of “Laid to Rest”, which is no bad thing at all.
Read the YouTube comments on the vid and you’ll see people talking shit (as they usually do) and dissing his hand technique, mainly on his right hand. It does look rather strange as his wrist doesn’t move a whole lot on some of the double time hits of the ride, but whatever, it sounds killer and as long as Simon hasn’t crocked himself by injury from it then who cares?! Some drummers with the weirdest technique end up sounding the best.
Something else impressive about the video is the fact none of his fellow bandmates deck it offstage with that little room to rock out. Sometimes being the support band is hard!
Give it a watch and head bang from the waist.
