Blake Richardson's Drum Setup on Between the Buried and Me's Colors (2007) | MetalForge

Frequently Asked Questions

What kit did Blake Richardson use on Colors?

Blake Richardson played a DW Collector's Series kit on *Colors* (2007) — BTBAM's landmark progressive metal record. The DW Collector's Series uses North American Hard Rock Maple shells, delivering the warm, resonant tone that suited *Colors*' 65-minute single-arc composition spanning death metal, jazz, and ambient textures. Configuration: single 22"x18" bass drum driven by a DW 9002 double pedal, three rack toms (10", 12", 13"), and a 16" floor tom. Meinl Byzance Extra Dry cymbals completed the setup. Full drummer profile at [Blake Richardson at MetalForge](/drummer/blake-richardson).

What is BTBAM's Colors?

*Colors* (2007) is Between the Buried and Me's fourth studio album and widely considered the definitive progressive metal album of its era. Released on Victory Records, it is a 65-minute single-arc composition across eight tracks — each flowing into the next without pause — that moves through death metal, jazz, ambient passages, and progressive rock in a continuous compositional statement. It is the album on which Blake Richardson's progressive metal voice fully matured, particularly on 'Prequel to the Sequel' — a 7/8 groove that remains one of the most-studied drum performances in the genre. See the [Great Misdirect drum setup](/articles/great-misdirect-drum-setup) for the album that followed.

What bass drum technique does Blake use on Selkies?

'Selkies: The Endless Obsession' is from BTBAM's *Alaska* (2005), not *Colors* — but it is one of the most-studied drum performances in Richardson's catalog, and the bass drum technique it showcases carries directly into the *Colors* era. Richardson's kick approach is compositional rather than constant: he varies double-bass density to follow the arrangement's emotional arc, deploying dense kick patterns during intense passages and pulling back to sparse or single-foot patterns during restrained sections. The DW 9002 double pedal, used on both *Alaska* and *Colors*, provides the consistent feel this density-variable approach requires. On *Colors*, the same compositional double-bass philosophy drives 'Prequel to the Sequel' and 'White Walls' — the kick following the music's arc rather than running beneath it as a constant. Full technique breakdown at [Blake Richardson at MetalForge](/drummer/blake-richardson).