George Kollias - Intense Metal Drumming

It's pretty obvious to me after seeing the average star rating for this DVD that the majority of the reviews are written by fans who would probably give it five stars if it contained nothing at all. I have no strong feelings for or against George Kollias, but having seen this and many other instructional DVD's, this is likely the worst one I've ever owned. Here are some issues that you should be aware of before spending any money on this DVD.1. The editing and production is terrible.I see some others have posted something similar, and they're being kind. The camera work is awful, the picture is grainy, and the sound is sometimes difficult to hear (specifically when George speaks). All of this pales in comparison to the editing, though. The editing of this video is so bad, you would imagine a 10 year old edited this thing. Examples:- When George explains things, the cameras change after almost every statement he makes. Sometimes the camera angle is behind him when he is facing forward speaking into the camera that you're not seeing. It's ridiculous and really irritating to watch.- Further exacerbating this is that many times (not all), the transition is a quick fade out and then back in. Again, incredibly irritating to watch.2. There is very little actual technique explained.This video has a lot by way of George offering basic conceptual rudiments and practice routines, and some explanations of different ways of playing (he explains the difference between various blast beats, for example), but there isn't much information about how to execute any of them. The best example here is the double-bass swivel technique. It's something that, in my opinion, George is known for, and he spends a total of zero time explaining how to execute it, or any nuance of the technique at all. With metal drumming, there is much to be gained by understanding how the various players approach different *techniques* such as heel-toe, heel-up, swivel, etc. -- in my opinion, it's more important than just telling people to repeat patterns. Which brings me to the final point...3. It is a redundant set of exercises, and not much else.Most of the time in this DVD is spent on George explaining some rudiment or exercise (many of which are pretty basic and exist in almost every book on practicing drums, or could quite frankly just be created in your own head from common sense), and then watching him execute those techniques at various tempos. This happens over and over and over throughout the DVD, but the footage of him playing is not long enough to be (nor is it intended as) a play-along. It's just watching him play exercises over and over again for a few seconds at each tempo.In my opinion, if you're looking for tips on how to be a better metal drummer, you should probably look elsewhere. Frankly, even for metal, you would be better served getting Jojo Mayer's DVDs on technique, which explain hand and foot technique in great detail, and you can apply any musical genre to it.

Let me first say that the material covered in this DVD is very good. I also like that I can go to Kolias' site and grab the music for his exercises. That being said, the editing for this production was pretty bad. The intro for the DVD is way too long, you have to sit for 5 minutes of random footage before you even get to the menus. The sound is not very clear, I kept having to rewind to hear what he had said. There are also some typos in the lesson intros, etc.For all it's mistakes, it's still worth the cost and a must for any aspiring metal drummer.

Great dvd to learn metal drumming! It as all the tools u need to become the fastest most solid drummer around

It's awesome, very good dvd with exciting clips

Excellent!

Good

Was bekomm ich auf der DVD? --> Schöne Einlagen vom Meister persönlich; Super Trainingstips wie man sein Spiel verbessern kann; die Erklärung einer perfekten Fußtechnik; Super Beats zum selbst nachspielenFür wen geeignet? --> NICHT für Anfänger; Fortgeschrittene - vorzugsweise Metal- - Drummer; Für Profis, die in das Metal-Drumming gerne mal reinblicken möchtenKritik --> Er erklärt alles sehr schnell und mit einem griechischem Akzent, was es für Leute ohne richtige Englischkenntnisse etwas schwer machen sollte; daraus folgt auch der 2. Kritikpunkt: es gibt keine Untertitel oder sonstige Sprachoptionen, d.h. man sollte der englischen Sprache schon mächtig sein bevor man sich diese DVD kauftFazit: Super lehrreiche DVD für Fortgeschrittene, wenn man der englischen Sprache mächtig ist. Falls nicht bekommt man trotz allem super Übungen gezeigt die man auch ohne Fremdsprache als geübter Drummer verstehen sollte. Nur zu empfehlen.