Still Life Drum Setup: Martin Lopez Establishes His Opeth Voice | MetalForge

Frequently Asked Questions

What drum kit did Martin Lopez use to record Still Life in 1999?

Martin Lopez recorded Opeth's Still Life in 1999 using a Pearl Export Series kit. His configuration included a 22x18 inch bass drum, 10 and 12 inch rack toms, and 14 and 16 inch floor toms. The Pearl Export was a professional but budget-conscious choice for the era — Opeth were still building their international profile when Still Life was recorded. Lopez paired the Export with Sabian HH hand-hammered cymbals, which provided the dark, complex tone his jazz-influenced playing demanded. He would upgrade to the Sonor Designer Series for the [Blackwater Park sessions in 2001](/articles/blackwater-park-drum-setup), where Steven Wilson's production fully captured his dynamic range.

How did Martin Lopez use jazz techniques on Opeth's Still Life?

Martin Lopez brought jazz vocabulary to Still Life in several distinct ways. His ghost note patterns on tracks like "Benighted" and "Face of Melinda" create rhythmic depth beneath clean guitar passages — a technique borrowed directly from jazz brushwork tradition, where soft notes build groove texture the listener feels rather than consciously hears. He used the ride cymbal as a melodic voice rather than just a time-keeper, letting the Sabian HH 20" ride's wash sustain beneath long guitar phrases. His brush performance on the acoustic track "Benighted" demonstrates jazz sensitivity that most metal drummers never develop. Perhaps most importantly, Lopez phrased dynamically across entire tracks rather than switching between preset "heavy" and "soft" modes — the jazz concept of telling a story through dynamics, applied to a progressive death metal concept album.

What cymbals did Martin Lopez use on Still Life?

Martin Lopez used Sabian HH (Hand Hammered) series cymbals on Still Life, with one AAX addition. His setup included Sabian HH 14" Medium Hi-Hats, a Sabian HH 16" Medium Thin Crash, a Sabian HH 18" Medium Crash, a Sabian HH 20" Medium Ride, and a Sabian AAX 16" Chinese. The HH series was central to Lopez's sound — darker and more complex than the bright brass favored by most death metal drummers of the era, the hand-hammered cymbals blended with acoustic passages and created atmosphere under clean guitar work. This cymbal philosophy remained consistent through Blackwater Park, where the same HH series provided the warmth and complexity that Steven Wilson's production captured so effectively.

How does Still Life's drum production differ from Blackwater Park?

Still Life's drum production reflects standard Swedish death metal practice circa 1999: tightly compressed, close-miked, with minimal room ambience. Producer Mikael Åkerfeldt prioritized clarity and punch over dynamic width. Blackwater Park (2001) — produced by Steven Wilson — represented a radical departure: wider dynamic range, more room ambience, no triggers, and a philosophy that preserved the difference between Lopez's softest ghost notes and his hardest hits. You can hear the impact of this difference by comparing Lopez's ghost note work across both albums. On Still Life, the dynamic window is narrower; on Blackwater Park, the contrast between whisper and thunder is one of the most striking sounds in progressive metal. The gear upgrade from Pearl Export to Sonor Designer Series also contributed — premium maple shells respond to touch differently, allowing Lopez's dynamics to register more fully.

Why was Still Life important to Martin Lopez's development as a drummer?

Still Life was the first Opeth album Martin Lopez tracked from inception to completion — My Arms, Your Hearse (1998) had him joining partway through production. This made Still Life his first opportunity to think about the drums compositionally across an entire album's arc. The concept album structure — a continuous narrative spanning 67 minutes — required Lopez to sustain emotional phrasing in ways track-by-track metal albums rarely demand. The disciplines he developed on Still Life (dynamic storytelling, ghost note architecture, brush sensitivity, jazz ride vocabulary) were the exact tools Steven Wilson recognized and captured on Blackwater Park. Without Still Life, there is no Blackwater Park as we know it. For the [Blackwater Park drum setup breakdown](/articles/blackwater-park-drum-setup) and how Lopez evolved his approach, see the full article. For his later work, the [Deliverance drum setup](/articles/deliverance-drum-setup) shows his most extreme Opeth performance.