In the Presence of Enemies Blast & Polyrhythm — Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) Drum Lick | MetalForge
Learn the In the Presence of Enemies Blast & Polyrhythm drum lick by Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater. From In the Presence of Enemies (Systematic Chaos (2007)). "In the Presence of Enemies" from Dream Theater's 2007 album Systematic Chaos is a 25-minute progres...
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1. Mike Portnoy's Signature Licks — "In the Presence of Enemies" from Dream Theater's 2007 album Systematic Chaos is a 25-minute progressive metal epic split across the album's opening and closing tracks, and it represents Mike Portnoy's most intense and technically demanding performance in terms of sustained metric complexity combined with raw speed. Across its full duration the piece cycles through blast passages, polyrhythmic interludes, odd-meter grooves and full-band metric modulations, and Portnoy has to navigate all of it while maintaining the musical clarity that stops prog epics from collapsing into incoherence. The blast sections — which arrive at around 175 BPM in the heavier passages — are not simple double-kick blasts but are embedded in shifting metric contexts, so the blast itself is constantly being reframed by what comes before and after it.
What makes the blast/polyrhythm component of this piece so valuable to study is the metric modulation technique Portnoy deploys. He moves between meters not by simply stopping and starting in a new time signature but by reinterpreting the subdivision — a common beat becomes the new dotted quarter, or a triplet subdivision becomes the new pulse, making the transition audible as a shift in feel rather than a break. At the blast tempo these modulations are particularly challenging because the foot pattern has to shift fractionally without disturbing the kick-snare drive. The combination of physical intensity and mathematical precision required is genuinely extreme, placing this piece alongside "The Dance of Eternity" as Portnoy's most demanding legacy.
For drummers approaching this material, the practical priority is to separate the blast endurance challenge from the metric complexity challenge and address them independently. Building clean blast beats at 175 BPM is a pure stamina and technique exercise; understanding the metric modulation points requires slow analytical work with the notation or a slow playback tool. The two strands only come together under pressure after each has been thoroughly internalized. Learning even the primary blast passage teaches kick endurance, hand-foot coordination in a blast context, and the ability to reorient across a metric shift without a physical break. It is one of the most demanding tests in progressive metal drumming and a worthy capstone study for players who have already worked through the Dance of Eternity's metric content in a less physically extreme context.2. Mike Portnoy Profile — Sustain blast beats at ~175 BPM through extended passages while tracking metric shifts Navigate metric modulation by reinterpreting the subdivision rather than stopping to reset Separate the blast endurance work from the metric analysis work and practise each independently Lock the blast kick-snare pattern tightly while the hands track polyrhythmic guitar accents Build stamina with sub-tempo blast exercises before attempting the modulation passages at speed
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