#23: PHIL DUBOIS-COYNE (REVOCATION)
MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Drummers, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play drums (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Revocation’s Phil Dubois-Coyne…
Clearly, Revocation are doing something right – last year Dave Davidson not only made our list, but topped it, and this time around Phil makes the cut? The sky’s the limit for these guys — and rightly so. Dubois-Coyne is one of the fiercest, tightest, most artistically proficient metal drummers out there right now.
When listening to anything from the band’s discography, I’ve always found it especially hard for me to refrain from clumsily trying to replicate Dubois-Coyne’s crippling drum work – be it on tabletops, my desk at work, a car steering wheel, etc. It’s just that infectious and gut-wrenchingly — ugh, I hate to say it, but — brutal. The way this guy attacks his kit is nothing short of mind-blowing, and to do it with such precision and determination not only on recordings, but live? This kid isn’t just supplying the structural integrity of each record, he’s just about bending it to his will.
And let’s not forget about his roots, though. Someone this adept and confident behind the kit, you’d assume it had taken years of grooming and professional lessons to be pulling the stunts someone like Phil keeps coming out with. You’d be wrong – this guy is self-taught, through and through. Now think about that for a second… and listen to, shit, anything off Chaos of Forms or Existence is Futile. To hone that kind of technicality and balls out ferocity through good old-fashioned elbow grease and persistence on one’s own leaves absolutely no doubt that this dude was born a percussionist, bred to tear shit up. We sincerely hope he’s seeing the big things we all see for him on the horizon.
-Kellhammer
THE LIST SO FAR:
#24: Jade Simonetto (Hate Eternal)
#25: Mike Portnoy (Adrenaline Mob)
