Fafner's Gold Blast Beat Section — Jocke Wallgren (Amon Amarth) Drum Lick | MetalForge
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Learn the Fafner's Gold Blast Beat Section drum lick by Jocke Wallgren of Amon Amarth. From Fafner's Gold (Berserker (2019)). "Fafner's Gold" opens Amon Amarth's 2019 album *Berserker* — the first album track Jocke Wallgren re...
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1. Jocke Wallgren's Signature Licks — "Fafner's Gold" opens Amon Amarth's 2019 album *Berserker* — the first album track Jocke Wallgren recorded in a lead studio role with the band after joining in 2016 for *Jomsviking* — and it features the blast beat passages that stand as some of the most demanding drumming of Wallgren's recorded output. The song operates at approximately 160 BPM and introduces blast beat sections within its otherwise groove-oriented melodic death metal framework, creating a dynamic structure where the blast passages serve as intensification moments within a predominantly power-groove song rather than as the song's primary rhythmic mode. Wallgren's approach to blast beats within Amon Amarth's melodic context is stylistically distinct from the full-velocity blasting of pure death metal: his blast patterns in "Fafner's Gold" are melodic death metal blasts — alternating kick and snare at full speed while the hands drive the ride or hi-hat in a pattern that preserves the song's anthemic character, rather than the wall-of-percussion density of more extreme genres. The crucial technical detail in Wallgren's blast beat execution is the preservation of clarity between the snare and kick in each alternating stroke: at 160 BPM, both elements must have sufficient separation and weight to register distinctly rather than blurring into an undifferentiated mass, and his physical technique — a combination of tight snare stroke with full rebound and heel-up kick pedal engagement — provides this clarity even at sustained extreme tempo. The song's structure creates specific demands that pure blast beat practice does not prepare you for: the transitions from the groove-based sections into the blast passages must happen immediately at the correct tempo without a transition ramp, and the exit from the blast back into the groove must similarly be instant and in-pocket, requiring the drummer to maintain temporal awareness of both the blast pulse and the underlying song tempo simultaneously. Wallgren's blast beat passages are also notable for the anthemic quality he maintains even at maximum intensity: the snare cuts through with authoritative weight rather than reducing to a high-speed hi-hat-style ticking, a characteristic of his physically powerful striking approach. The *Berserker* production captures this authority well, and his performance on "Fafner's Gold" documents a drummer who has built genuine extreme-tempo capability within the specific context of melodic death metal's thematic and sonic requirements. For drummers, "Fafner's Gold" is the essential melodic death metal blast beat contextualisation study: it develops blast entry and exit precision in a groove song context, the striking authority needed to maintain snare clarity at 160 BPM, and the stylistic understanding of how blasting functions within melodic death metal differently from pure death or black metal.2. Jocke Wallgren Profile — Execute alternating kick-snare blast at ~160 BPM with sufficient separation between each element that both register with distinct weight rather than blurring Drive the ride or hi-hat above the blast in a pattern that preserves the song's anthemic melodic-death-metal character — this is not a blackened wall-of-percussion blast Enter blast passages from groove sections at the correct tempo instantly with no acceleration ramp — maintain temporal awareness of the underlying song pulse throughout the groove sections leading into each blast Strike the snare with full physical authority even at blast tempo — the authoritative cut of a hard snare stroke distinguishes melodic death metal blasting from thinner, faster extreme metal variants Exit blast passages back into the groove feel cleanly and in-pocket — the re-entry must sit exactly on the beat without rushing or overshooting
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