George Kollias

Alternating kick and snare (or kick and crash) at extreme speed, held cleanly for extended passages

Practise: Build duration gradually — 10 seconds clean, then 20, then a full minute, before raising tempo

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — extreme-speed double bass

Heard in: Sacrifice Unto Sebek · Chapter of Obeisance Before Giving Water · Unas, Slayer of the Gods

A blast-beat variation using the hi-hat's rebound to generate extra speed on the hands

Practise: Practise the rebound stroke alone at a slow tempo before applying it inside a full blast

Comes out of: Stage 5 — Advanced coordination — blast beat mastery

Heard in: Unas, Slayer of the Gods · Kafir! · The Gods Who Light Up the Sky

Deliberately alternating pedal technique mid-pattern to manage fatigue and control at extreme speed

Practise: Play a double-bass pattern switching technique every four bars and note where each feels stronger

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — extreme-speed double bass

Heard in: Sacrifice Unto Sebek · Chapter of Obeisance Before Giving Water · Unas, Slayer of the Gods

16th-note double bass sustained well past a comfortable tempo without loss of articulation

Practise: Set a timer and hold the pattern cleanly, adding thirty seconds to your best time each week

Comes out of: Stage 5 — Advanced coordination — blast beat mastery

Heard in: Unas, Slayer of the Gods · Sarcophagus · Kafir!

A short, explosive burst of 32nd notes on the kick used to punctuate a phrase inside a blast section

Practise: Isolate the burst alone at half tempo before inserting it into a full-speed blast beat

Comes out of: Stage 3 — Signature techniques — extreme-speed double bass

Heard in: Chapter of Obeisance Before Giving Water · The Gods Who Light Up the Sky · Kem Khefa Kheshef

A fast fill that lands precisely on the downbeat of a dense, syncopated riff

Practise: Loop the riff and place the fill in the exact same spot every pass until it's automatic

Comes out of: Stage 4 — Fills & transitions — brutal, exact fills

Heard in: Black Seeds of Vengeance

Dropping cleanly from a full-speed blast beat into a half-time or straight groove without a stumble

Practise: Alternate eight bars of blast with four bars of groove, focusing on the exact moment of the switch

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — ankle control and single-pedal speed

Heard in: Sacrifice Unto Sebek · Chapter of Obeisance Before Giving Water · Unas, Slayer of the Gods

Following Nile's exotic, irregularly grouped riffs precisely with matching accents

Practise: Count the riff's actual grouping aloud, then match snare or kick accents to each group

Comes out of: Stage 2 — Core grooves — technical death metal riff-locking

Heard in: Sacrifice Unto Sebek · Sarcophagus · User-Maat-Re

Crash hits landing exactly on unison riff stabs inside otherwise blasting sections

Practise: Play along with a riff recording and land crashes only on the exact unison hits

Comes out of: Stage 1 — Foundations — ankle control and single-pedal speed

Heard in: Sacrifice Unto Sebek · Black Seeds of Vengeance · Sarcophagus

Pacing effort across an entire song so the final blast section is as clean as the first

Practise: Play the whole song and record it, checking that the final section isn't sloppier than the first

Comes out of: Stage 5 — Advanced coordination — blast beat mastery

Heard in: Unas, Slayer of the Gods · Sarcophagus · Kafir!