# Satanica Drum Setup: Inferno's Tama Starclassic Kit — Behemoth's 1999 Blackened Death Metal Origin

> Complete breakdown of Inferno's Tama Starclassic Maple kit on Behemoth's Satanica (1999). Discover the gear that marks the origin of Inferno's industrial/tribal blast beat approach and opens the arc to Thelema.6 and Demigod.

**Type:** Album Drum Setup
**Drummer(s):** [Inferno](/llms/drummers/inferno.md)
**Band / Album:** Behemoth — *Satanica* (1999)
**Genre:** Blackened Death Metal

## Overview

*Satanica* (1999) is the fifth studio album by Behemoth, and it marks the moment Inferno — Zbigniew Robert Promiński — fully asserted himself as one of extreme metal's most technically formidable drummers. Released through Avantgarde Music, *Satanica* represents Behemoth's decisive pivot from the raw black metal of their earliest records toward the blackened death metal approach that would make them one of the most important bands in extreme music.

This album is the arc's origin. The documented gear evolution from *Satanica* (1999) through *Thelema.6* (2002), *Demigod* (2004), *Evangelion* (2009), and *The Satanist* (2014) begins here. Understanding what Inferno played on *Satanica* is prerequisite context for the entire arc of his development as a drummer.

Inferno's drumming on *Satanica* carries the industrial and tribal kit character that became his signature throughout the early Behemoth years. Tracks like 'Decade of Therion', 'Ceremony of Shiva', and 'Inauguration of the Scorpio Flame' showcase the precision and controlled aggression that define his approach to blast beats — not mere velocity for its own sake, but blast beats deployed as compositional elements with rhythmic purpose.

The kit Inferno used for these sessions was a Tama Starclassic Maple — Tama's flagship maple shell production line, paired with early Meinl Byzance cymbals and Tama's Iron Cobra pedals. This configuration established the gear vocabulary Inferno would refine across the subsequent decade.

## Gear Breakdown

- **Drums:** Tama Starclassic Maple (Custom studio configuration)
- **Snare:** Tama Starclassic Maple Snare, 14" x 6.5"
- **Cymbals:** Meinl Byzance (early configuration) — 14" hi-hats, 16"/18" crashes, 20" ride, 18" China
- **Pedals:** Tama Iron Cobra Double Pedal
- **Sticks:** Vic Firth 5B
- **Heads:** Remo Coated Ambassador (batter), Remo Ambassador Snare Side (resonant)
- **Snare tuning:** Medium-high tension for blast beat clarity with sufficient tonal body

### Inferno's Tama Starclassic Maple: The Blackened Death Metal Foundation

The Tama Starclassic Maple was Tama's flagship production shell when Inferno chose it for *Satanica*. The Starclassic line — introduced in the mid-1990s — established Tama's benchmark for professional-grade all-maple construction: 6-ply maple shells with precision bearing edges delivering the full tonal warmth that only pure maple provides.

The double 22" x 18" bass drum configuration was Inferno's standard by 1999. Two independent kick drums — each with its own Iron Cobra pedal mechanism — provided the mechanical independence the shifting blast beat patterns of *Satanica* required. Two separate resonant chambers contributed to the album's characteristic punching, physical low-end attack beneath the blast sections.

The four-tom configuration — two rack toms and two floor toms — balanced practical playing requirements with the blast-primary identity of *Satanica*'s arrangements. The Starclassic Maple shells' warm voice delivered more articulate and focused tone than the raw production of Behemoth's earliest releases, while maintaining the ferocity the album required.

### Tama Starclassic Snare: Black Metal Crack at Death Metal Precision

The snare on *Satanica* needed to cut through dense down-tuned guitar layers while maintaining articulation through sustained blast beat passages. The Tama Starclassic Maple snare's natural warmth provided tonal body to project through the mix, while medium-high tension ensured each stroke spoke with clarity through the album's most relentless sections.

*Satanica*'s snare character retains the raw, cracking quality of black metal snare production — immediate attack, short decay — while demonstrating the controlled articulation that becomes more pronounced on Inferno's subsequent recordings. 'Decade of Therion' and 'Inauguration of the Scorpio Flame' set a new benchmark for Behemoth's production quality relative to their earliest releases.

### Meinl Byzance: Early Dark Configuration

The Meinl Byzance cymbal line — introduced in 1997, just two years before *Satanica* — represented Meinl's flagship professional series: hand-hammered B20 bronze with traditional Turkish construction methodology. For Inferno in 1999, adopting the Byzance line early placed him at the leading edge of the developing Meinl relationship that would become a career-long endorsement partnership.

The 14" Byzance hi-hats provided the articulation platform that *Satanica*'s blast beats required. At 180–220 BPM, hi-hat response must prioritize controlled fast articulation. The Byzance's dark construction was controlled by Inferno's closed hi-hat technique to deliver precise rhythmic articulation: dark-toned, immediate, and consistent through the album's most intense passages.

The two-crash spread (16" and 18") provided accent vocabulary for the arrangements. The 18" Byzance China's complex, trashy wash contributed to the most aggressive moments — a tonal character prefiguring the darker Meinl selections on later records.

### Tama Iron Cobra: Kick Precision at the Extreme Metal Frontier

The Tama Iron Cobra's cam-driven mechanism provided smooth, controllable power transfer across the blast beat tempos that define *Satanica*'s approach — 180–220 BPM through the most intense passages. Operating with two independent 22" bass drums, the per-drum pedal setup gave each foot its own dedicated mechanism and resonant chamber. This independence is central to the kick drum character on *Satanica*: not merely alternating eighth notes in classic blast metal fashion, but kick patterns beginning to vary in grouping and emphasis as Behemoth's death metal vocabulary started to emerge.

## Key Facts

- Tama Starclassic Maple — Inferno's early Behemoth studio kit at the blackened death metal origin point
- Genre: early blackened death metal — industrial/tribal approach emerging from black metal foundations
- The arc's origin: precedes Thelema.6 (2002), Demigod (2004), Evangelion (2009), and The Satanist (2014)
- Meinl Byzance early configuration — pre-Classics Custom Dark era cymbal setup
- Tama Iron Cobra double pedal — kick control at the formative stage of Inferno's extreme metal technique
- Label: Avantgarde Music
- Blast beat tempo range: 180–220 BPM
- Estimated kit value: $2,200–3,800 (Tama Starclassic Maple, new 1999 pricing); $900–2,000 (current used market)
- Estimated snare value: $350–600 (Tama Starclassic Maple snare, this era)
- Estimated cymbal value: $700–1,200 (Meinl Byzance configuration, this era)

## Related Articles

- [Thelema.6 drum setup (2002)](/articles/thelema-6-drum-setup) — the next chapter in Inferno's arc
- [Demigod drum setup (2004)](/articles/demigod-drum-setup) — the full blackened death metal arrival
- [What's In Inferno's Kit](/articles/whats-in-infernos-kit) — current live gear breakdown

**Source:** https://metalforge.io/articles/satanica-drum-setup

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*Last updated: 2026-06-25 · Source: [MetalForge.io](https://metalforge.io)*