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Tomas Haake, Swedish Metal Band Meshuggah’s Thundering Drummer

Playing drums takes more than just talent and hours of practice. It needs dedication and ear for new styles and the motivation to grow and improve. This is the story of Tomas Haake, whose footsteps have been followed by many drumming enthusiasts.

Tomas Haake
Tomas Haake

One of Tomas Haake drumming’s major characteristics is his sophisticated foundation of the Swedish metal band Meshuggah‘s thundering. Those who understand the best drumming approaches can always tell a good band when they meet one because of the drummer.

Tomas proves that a band is defined by its drummer. Apart from being a true leader with his team, the drummer had some attraction around him that made everybody want to be with him. Because of this, he was able to work on complicated projects that came out with great harmony.

Thomas Haake continues to make an impact in the drumming industry by creating an off-kilter feel. He does this by playing a standard 4/4 beat using his right hand. 

The rest of his body goes into the polyrhythms of his performance. This combination of energy and innovation results in beats that often sound like the mechanized revving of a Lamborghini Diablo SV. It is the most fulfilling sound you can hear from any album.

Meshuggah
Meshuggah

When it comes to rhythm and keeping time, every drummer needs to understand working with a metronome. For Haake, however, a metronome is way below his standard.

He has such a sharp ear that one may think there is a metronome in his blood that rings through his hands. Even the beat he takes is approached with great precision and carefulness that demands only a skilled drummer to achieve. For many years, this has been the main cause of his performance, which puts him on the top list as one of the best in the market.

Meshuggah’s first album “Contractions Collapse,” was released in 1990 with Haake as one of the most influential members. You can always feel the action through this song’s rumbling to understand just how good the drummer is.

The clarity that came with each instrument synchronized perfectly with the vocal, resulting in voice outputs that would make any listener demand for more. But that is not all, Haake has since modified his approach with the addition of electronic beats.

Since the drumming industry has been on a constant development path, the drummer has taken his time to learn everything about technology to satisfy the needs of modern drum enthusiasts. He has injected this knowledge into the industry with his sophisticated patterns.

Tomas Haake Performing
Tomas Haake Performing

Thanks to guitarists like Fredrik Thordendal and Marten Hagstrom, Haake has managed to pull up some of the hardest projects with his team. These are musicians who write on computers, and Haake confesses to emulating what they have done.

He comments that this sometimes feels awkward in drumming, but it also creates an incredible challenge and an obstacle to overcome, letting him think beyond what is common. For this reason, Haake is one of the most innovative drummers of the modern age.

What do you think?

Avatar Of Andrea

Written by Andrea

Andrea is a music lover and an experienced drummer with more than 15 years of drumming with different bands and music projects, such as Seditius and Hermano & the Marines.

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