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, Zildjian K Custom Hyb...
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 Zildjian's K Custom Hybrid series for Alien, moving away from the brighter A Custom cymbals he'd used on City. The setup included 14" K Custom Hybrid hi-hats, 17" and 18" crashes, a 19" China, and a 21" ride. The K Custom Hybrid line's darker, more complex tone — a blend of traditional K-series lathing with brilliant-finish bells — suited Alien's denser, more layered guitar production better than the cutting A Custom 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.