Navene Koperweis's Drum Setup on Animals as Leaders' 'Weightless' (2011) | MetalForge
Navene Koperweis recorded Weightless (2011) on a Unbranded touring/session shell pack (no fixed drum brand documented for this era) kit with a DW Performance 14" x 6.5" Steel snare.
The drum setup Navene Koperweis used to record Animals as Leaders' 'Weightless' — his early-career shell pack and Meinl Byzance cymbals behind djent's most i...
Frequently Asked Questions
What drum kit did Navene Koperweis use on Animals as Leaders' 'Weightless'?
Navene Koperweis recorded 'Weightless' (2011) on an all-maple 5-piece shell pack (no fixed drum brand is documented for this era): a 22" x 18" bass drum, 10", 12", and 14" rack toms, and a 16" floor tom. The compact configuration was chosen for clarity against Animals as Leaders' dense, palm-muted eight-string riffing rather than for maximum low-end mass. His fixed DW endorsement didn't begin until 2015. For his current Entheos-era setup, see the [Navene Koperweis general drum setup breakdown](/articles/whats-in-navene-koperweiss-kit).
Why is 'Weightless' considered a landmark djent album?
'Weightless' is where Navene Koperweis's riff-locked double bass technique — rewriting the kick pattern to match each guitar riff's specific rhythmic subdivision rather than applying a fixed template underneath it — first appeared on record. That approach became foundational to djent drumming in the years that followed. The album reached #92 on the Billboard 200 and earned a 7.5/10 from Chronicles of Chaos, with reviewers specifically citing the rhythmic sophistication of tracks like 'Isolated Incidents' and the title track.
What cymbals did Navene Koperweis play on 'Weightless'?
Koperweis played a five-piece Meinl Byzance setup on 'Weightless': 14" Dual Hi-Hats, a 17" and an 18" Medium Crash, a 20" Transition Ride, and an 18" China. The Byzance series' controlled decay was chosen specifically to avoid cymbal accents bleeding across the album's tightly interlocked, constantly shifting riff boundaries. Koperweis refined his cymbal setup to the drier Byzance sub-series he still uses with Entheos in 2015.
Was 'Weightless' Navene Koperweis's first album with Animals as Leaders?
Yes. Koperweis joined Animals as Leaders as the band expanded from Tosin Abasi's largely programmed-drum debut into a full working trio, and 'Weightless' (2011) was his first and only full studio album with the band — he departed in 2012, replaced by Matt Garstka, and went on to found Entheos in 2015. See the [Navene Koperweis drummer profile](/drummer/navene-koperweis) for his complete career arc.
What pedal drove Navene Koperweis's double bass on 'Weightless'?
No fixed pedal brand is documented for Koperweis's Animals as Leaders tenure — he used undocumented touring-grade chain-drive gear during the Weightless era, with pedal consistency between the primary and secondary beater mattering more than the specific model for his riff-locked kick technique. He later established a fixed pedal endorsement, the DW 9000 Series double pedal, after founding Entheos in 2015.