Alex Van Halen's drums on ADKOT

[fourthcoming]

My first set was an old slingerland set.....loved it till it burned in a house fire!!!!! Ludwig now. I keep repeating myself on various forums but listening to this cd with headphones is the way to go. You can hear so much more of Al's playing and everyone for that matter.

[LUDWIG USA]

I Really like the drum sound that Al has on the new album! He went back to a true acoustic sound, lots of steam and ping on the cymbals although the hi hats sound a little bit dryer than usual, the kicks sound good and his snare has that same distinct tone that I've always loved and tried to achieve on my snare. The only thing I could ask for would be a little more low end on the floor toms, I like to feel those floor toms hit me like hard body blows.
The electronic drums have run their coarse and I'm glad that Al didn't use any on this album, he did everything that could be done with them, I like what he did with them better than any other drummers that tried to introduce them into their sound.

[private parts]

I'm a drummer here also.....not some delusional jerkoff who thinks he's the second coming of John Bonham....but what I noticed and what I always loved was Alex's use of his ride symbol bell. He is great at nailing the bell on off beats and it sounds great. This cd can really be appreciated with headphones....there is so much going on that you can hear with headphones. Al has so many fills and Ed has so much going on that sounds great when blasting out of kick ass sound systems but sometimes get lost without headphones. Double bass is killer on this cd too but overall I love the sound of his drums, the tuning of them and his toms sound great. Remember those rediculous electronic drums on 5150? wow....thank god we are a long way from that. Listening to this cd on headphones....especially on Honeybabysweetiedoll you can also hear alot of shit that's hard to hear on a stereo....especially a few things Dave is saying....one more thing about the headphones....there is alot of underlying vocals that are easier to hear and Wolf's lines are damn good too. Sorry....this thread was about Al's drumming so I'll shut the fuck up and wrap it up......he's still got it...that's all I have to say.

That's it. I'm getting a set of headphones pronto. What do you recommend brand wise. Bose?...

[Jagermeister]

So what do you think? DRUMmers, what do you notice? I'm a guitar player, not a drummer. First I noted Alex plays a lot of double bass passages. This is the hardest rocking VH record, it's epic and I love it!!

I guess I am too old school. I think I can start 25 threads in 15 minutes. What do you think VA?

[chippertherippe]

His best playing in years.Hope he gains some well deserved recognition from this record..

[Zing!]

Alex kills on this disk - part of the reason you have to listen to this record LOUD. Crank 'Honeybabysweetiedoll' up to 11 and its mindblowing.