Blast Beats

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The history of the blast beat traces back to jazz and rock antecedents before crystallizing in punk. A brief section of Sam Woodyard's 1962 solo on "Kinda Dukish" with Duke Ellington is cited as an early resemblance, though it lacked modern kick drum inclusion. Another instance appeared in Sunny Murray's 1966 or '67 performance on "Holy Ghost" with Albert Ayler. Before these resurfaced in the 2010s, AllMusic contributor Thom Jurek credited Tony Williams' 1979 performance on "Dark Prince" as the true invention. In rock, some have claimed a 1969 track by Coven as an early attempt, and Coven's 1969 album 'Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls' does include a track called "Dignitaries of Hell." King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer utilized proto-versions in 1970. The modern form emerged from 1980s hardcore and grindcore scenes, with Daniel Ekeroth arguing Swedish group Asocial performed the first on their 1982 demo.

In Their Own Story

In the UK punk scene of the early 1980s, bands like Napalm Death sought maximum speed. Mick Harris replaced Miles "Rat" Ratledge in 1985, bringing new velocity to the group and developing the term "blast beat" to describe fast notes on kick and snare. This technique became fundamental to their compositions, evolving into a distinct expression on their 1987 album Scum. Pete Sandoval of Terrorizer and later Morbid Angel is credited with being the first to use blast beats in metronomic time rather than as arhythmic noise, giving them a useful musical characteristic for timekeeping. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the style was further developed in the American death metal scene. Eventually, it reached mainstream success with Fear Factory's Demanufacture (1995) and Slipknot's Iowa (2001).

Reader's Guide

A blast beat traditionally consists of a repeated sixteenth-note figure played at a very fast tempo, divided uniformly among the bass drum, snare, and cymbals. Adam MacGregor defines it as such, while Brad Schlueter describes the "original" version as a single-stroke roll between cymbal and snare with simultaneous kick hits. In modern contexts, these are usually played at minimums above 90 bpm for 32nd notes or 180 bpm for 16th notes, often ranging from 180 to 250 bpm. There are four main variations: the traditional blast (alternating snare and kick with ride unison), the bomb blast (snare 8ths over 16th kick lines, popularized by Cannibal Corpse), the hammer blast (kick and snare in unison as straight 8ths), and the freehand or gravity blast. The gravity blast uses the snare rim as a fulcrum to double note output with one hand.

Did You Know?

• Napalm Death is credited with popularizing the term "blast beat," specifically by drummer Mick Harris in the late 1980s, though the term existed before him.
• The first use of metronomic blast beats is generally credited to other drummers, and there is no widely accepted canon that Pete Sandoval was the first.
• The traditional blast beat is structurally very similar to the skank beat, which originated in early punk and thrash metal scenes.
• Sam Woodyard's 1962 drum solo on "Kinda Dukish" with Duke Ellington is often cited as an early resemblance of the technique, though it lacked modern kick drum inclusion.
• The hammer blast became popular in death metal music of the early 1990s and can be played with only one fast hand.