Alien Drum Setup: Gene Hoglan's Polyrhythmic Peak with Strapping Young Lad | MetalForge
Gene Hoglan recorded Alien (2005) on a Pearl Masters Premium MCX kit with a Pearl Free-Floating Steel snare.
Complete breakdown of Gene Hoglan's drum performance on Strapping Young Lad's Alien (2005). Discover the Pearl Masters Premium MCX kit, Sabian HHX Legacy cym...
Frequently Asked Questions
What kit did Gene Hoglan use on Alien?
Gene Hoglan recorded Strapping Young Lad's Alien (2005) using a Pearl Masters Premium MCX kit — an upgrade from the Tama Artstar II he'd used on City (1997). The setup featured twin 22" x 18" bass drums, 10" and 12" rack toms, and 14" and 16" floor toms, built from hybrid maple/gum shells with Pearl's SST suspension mounting system. He retained the Pearl Free-Floating steel snare (14" x 6.5") that had served him since his Death recordings.
What cymbals did Gene Hoglan use on Strapping Young Lad's Alien?
Hoglan switched to Sabian's HHX Legacy series for Alien, moving away from the brighter HHX Evolution cymbals he'd used on City. The setup included 14" HHX Legacy hi-hats, 17" and 18" crashes, a 19" China, and a 21" ride. The HHX Legacy line's darker, more complex tone — traditional lathing with brilliant-finish bells — suited Alien's denser, more layered guitar production better than the cutting HHX Evolution sound had suited City's sparser mix.
What makes the drumming on Alien unique?
Alien is widely regarded as Strapping Young Lad's artistic peak because of its polyrhythmic complexity — Devin Townsend and Gene Hoglan built deliberate 5/4 and 7/8 meter shifts into songs that otherwise pound in straight 4/4, and Hoglan's playing makes those shifts land as groove rather than arithmetic. He also blended a triggered bass drum signal with his live acoustic kick, a hybrid approach that kept the record's most extreme sections tight in the mix while preserving the human feel of his playing. Music-tech writers cite Alien, alongside City, as a direct precursor to modern djent — Alien specifically for its non-standard time-signature vocabulary.
Is Alien related to djent the way City is?
Yes, but for a different reason. City (1997) is cited as a djent precursor for its machine-precision, electronically-augmented drumming. Alien (2005) extends that lineage by adding djent's other defining trait: complex, non-standard time signatures (5/4, 7/8) deployed as compositional groove rather than technical showmanship. Together, the two Strapping Young Lad records give Gene Hoglan and Devin Townsend a legitimate claim as a direct bridge between 1990s extreme metal and 2000s technical progressive metal.