Mario Duplantier

A floor-tom-led groove that drops the hi-hat out entirely, giving a ritualistic, chant-like feel

Practise: Play only on floor toms and kick, shaping dynamics across an eight-bar phrase

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — dynamics from the ground up

Heard in: Flying Whales · Ocean Planet · Explosia

Matching kick and snare accents exactly to a riff that implies a different pulse than the meter

Practise: Isolate the riff's implied pulse by counting it separately before layering the true meter back in

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — polyrhythmic riff-locking

Heard in: Backbone · The Axe · Amazonia

Fills that follow the contour of a riff's melody by choosing tom pitches deliberately

Practise: Sing or hum the riff's shape, then map each note onto a tom pitch around the kit

Comes out of: Stage 2 — Core grooves — tribal tom-driven pulse

Heard in: Flying Whales · The Heaviest Matter of the Universe · Ocean Planet

A groove that visibly swells and recedes in volume across a phrase rather than sitting flat

Practise: Play the same groove four times, each time shaping a different dynamic arc across it

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — dynamics from the ground up

Heard in: Flying Whales · Ocean Planet · Explosia

A double-kick pattern that varies in volume musically rather than staying at one flat level

Practise: Play the pattern slowly, deliberately accenting different notes each pass

Comes out of: Stage 5 — Advanced coordination — double kick with jazz-like touch

Heard in: Toxic Garbage Island · The Axe

A single, carefully placed china or crash hit used for maximum impact rather than constant accenting

Practise: Play a groove and add exactly one cymbal accent per four bars, choosing the spot deliberately

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — dynamics from the ground up

Heard in: The Heaviest Matter of the Universe · Explosia

Reinterpreting a subdivision to shift the felt pulse without changing the actual tempo

Practise: Play 3 in the time of 4, then accent the new grouping until it feels like the true pulse

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — polyrhythmic riff-locking

Heard in: Backbone · The Axe · Amazonia

Quiet ghost notes woven between backbeats to add texture without raising the groove's volume

Practise: Play the groove first with no ghost notes, then add them one at a time until it feels natural

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — dynamics from the ground up

Heard in: Explosia · Silvera · Stranded

Hands and feet shaping dynamics independently, so one limb can swell while another stays quiet

Practise: Isolate each limb's dynamic shape slowly before combining them together

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — polyrhythmic riff-locking

Heard in: Backbone · Toxic Garbage Island · Amazonia

Shaping an entire song's dynamics as one continuous arc rather than section by section

Practise: Map the dynamic level of every section on paper before playing the song through

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — dynamics from the ground up

Heard in: Flying Whales · The Heaviest Matter of the Universe · Ocean Planet