Few musicians have shaped metal drumming as profoundly as Dave Lombardo, yet even he acknowledges that one of the genre’s defining tools, the blast beat, didn’t begin within metal itself. Known for his pioneering work with Slayer, and later with Fantômas, Suicidal Tendencies, and Testament, Lombardo’s blend of unerring precision and human groove has made him a standard-bearer for generations of drummers. But in his own words, the story of the blast beat is more complex than most assume.
Reflecting on the roots of the technique, Lombardo explained (via Ultimate Guitar): “I heard rumors of ‘blast beat,’ so that’s double bass is going and the snare is, like, on top of the double bass, hitting at the same 32nd notes, or however you want to describe it. I heard it was jazz drummers, which I believe they probably did, because they did everything first before anybody.”
He then noted another figure who may have brought the sound closer to metal’s vocabulary: “And then later I heard…it might have been Mick Harris from Napalm Death. Back in the early days of Napalm Death.”
As for his own experience with the technique, Lombardo said: “I started using a blast beat, I believe, during ‘Christ Illusion‘…No, no, actually Fantômas. So, 2000, I believe I started using it.”
That kind of openness to influence and innovation defined the rise of thrash metal as a whole. But at the time, Lombardo admits he didn’t grasp the movement’s eventual impact: “No, because I was so immersed in it, I couldn’t differentiate whether this fanbase that we were creating was just, ‘This is normal. This is what happens.'”
The drummer now sees that what felt ordinary at the time became extraordinary in hindsight: “And the whole metal scene – it was something that was happening so organically that I didn’t realize it was going to have the longevity that it has had. So I think it’s a surprise, and I think it’s awesome.”
More than four decades later, Lombardo is still struck by how deeply audiences remain invested in the music: “It’s also one of the most followed music styles that there is out there. In other words, the people are very passionate about it. The fans are very passionate and very loyal. And that’s really cool. It’s not something that people just blow off. It’s not your flavor of the day music, or the week.”
