# Zos Kia Cultus Drum Setup: Inferno's Tama Starclassic Kit — Behemoth's 2002 Symphonic-Death Crystallisation

> Complete breakdown of Inferno's Tama Starclassic Maple kit on Behemoth's Zos Kia Cultus (2002). Discover the transitional gear — Tama Starclassic Maple shells with evolving Meinl Byzance integration — that bridges Thelema.6 and Demigod.

**Type:** Album Drum Setup
**Drummer(s):** [Inferno](/llms/drummers/inferno.md)
**Band / Album:** Behemoth — *Zos Kia Cultus (Here and Beyond)* (2002)
**Genre:** Blackened Death Metal

## Overview

*Zos Kia Cultus (Here and Beyond)* (2002) is a landmark Behemoth album sitting at the precise midpoint of the arc that runs from *Satanica* (1999) through *Demigod* (2004). Released through Avantgarde Music and Metal Blade Records, the album finds Inferno — Zbigniew Robert Promiński — at a moment of technical and creative crystallisation: the symphonic and blackened-death elements that Behemoth had been developing across their preceding records converge here into a fully realised sonic identity.

Between the *Thelema.6* (2000) and *Demigod* (2004) articles on this site, *Zos Kia Cultus* represents the critical transitional document: the album that completes the stylistic arc *Thelema.6* began and delivers the template *Demigod* would execute at its most relentless. Tracks like 'Here and Beyond', 'As Above So Below', and 'Horns ov Baphomet' are significant blast beat showcases, with Inferno deploying both high-velocity single-stroke blasting and increasingly compositionally sophisticated kick patterns that mark the last step before *Demigod*'s full polyrhythmic arrival.

The kit Inferno deployed for these sessions was his evolving Tama Starclassic Maple configuration — the same all-maple shell construction he first used on *Satanica* (1999), now refined and re-specified for the more demanding material on *Zos Kia Cultus*. The defining gear shift of this album is its cymbal array: the first notably integrated Meinl Byzance configuration in Inferno's recorded Behemoth work, moving the developing Meinl partnership toward the systematic endorsement that would define his sound for the following decade. Recorded at Hertz Studio in Białystok, Poland, the production environment changed the perceived attack of the Starclassic kit significantly compared to *Satanica* — brighter transients, tighter decay, and more defined separation in the blast beat frequencies.

## Gear Breakdown

- **Drums:** Tama Starclassic Maple (Custom studio configuration)
- **Snare:** Tama Starclassic Maple Snare, 14" x 6.5"
- **Cymbals:** Meinl Byzance — 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); Remo Powerstroke P3 (kick batter)
- **Snare tuning:** Medium-high tension for blast beat articulation with tonal body

### Inferno's Tama Starclassic Maple: The Crystallisation Era Configuration

The Tama Starclassic Maple kit Inferno used on *Zos Kia Cultus* represents an evolution of the configuration he first deployed on *Satanica* (1999). Tama's Starclassic line — built on a 6-ply all-maple shell construction with precision-cut bearing edges — delivers the warm, full fundamental that distinguishes the best production maple drums. For recording at Hertz Studio in Białystok, this inherent warmth proved critical: the studio's capture characteristics and Wojtek Wiesławski's production approach changed the perceived attack profile of the Starclassic significantly, producing tighter transients and more defined blast beat frequency separation than the *Satanica* recordings achieved.

The double 22" x 18" bass drum configuration was already Inferno's established standard by this era. Two fully independent kick drums — each with its own dedicated pedal mechanism and resonant chamber — gave him the mechanical independence essential for the increasingly varied kick patterns that characterise *Zos Kia Cultus*. The album features compositionally varied kick phrasing in tracks like 'As Above So Below' and 'Zos Kia Cultus' that demonstrate the developing death metal technique fully realized on *Demigod*.

This was the final Tama Starclassic Maple studio recording before Inferno's switch to Pearl Masters BRX for *Demigod* (2004).

### Tama Starclassic Snare: Precision at the Symphonic-Death Frontier

The Tama Starclassic Maple snare's natural character — warm body with defined crack — served *Zos Kia Cultus*'s dual demands: blast beat sections at 190–230 BPM and more measured passages where the album's symphonic-death ambitions come to the fore. Tuned to medium-high tension, the snare maintained articulation through sustained blast sections while retaining enough tonal body to project in the arrangement's more spacious moments.

The Hertz Studio production environment was particularly effective on the snare: the Wiesławski brothers' capture approach brought forward the Starclassic's natural attack character without sacrificing the warm sustain that prevents the snare from sounding thin in the mix.

### Meinl Byzance: The First Fully Integrated Configuration

The cymbal setup on *Zos Kia Cultus* marks the first fully integrated Meinl Byzance configuration in Inferno's Behemoth studio work. The Byzance line's hand-hammered B20 bronze construction — Turkish in its methodology, dark in its tonal character — aligned with Behemoth's sonic approach in a way that made this configuration a turning point: the cymbal sound that would shape Inferno's endorsement relationship with Meinl across the subsequent decade.

The 14" Byzance hi-hats anchored the album's blast beat articulation platform. At sustained single-stroke alternating tempos ranging from 190–230 BPM across tracks like 'Here and Beyond' and 'Horns ov Baphomet', hi-hat response must be controlled: dark attack, minimal unintended wash, fast closure after each stroke. The Byzance series achieved exactly this — hand-hammering produced controlled tonal complexity rather than bright, cutting volume, allowing clean articulation within the band's dense, down-tuned frequency spectrum.

The 18" Byzance China's aggressive, complex wash contributed to the album's darkest moments — the tonal signature that would carry directly through into the Meinl Byzance Dark selections of the *Evangelion* (2009) and *The Satanist* (2014) sessions.

### Tama Iron Cobra: Kick Precision at the Arc's Penultimate Stage

The Tama Iron Cobra's cam-driven mechanism delivered smooth, controllable power transfer across the extreme tempos that *Zos Kia Cultus* demanded. Operating with two independent 22" bass drum shells, the per-drum pedal setup gave each foot its own dedicated mechanism. The Iron Cobra's cam adjustability supported both sustained alternating eighth-note blast patterns and the more varied compositional kick phrasing that would fully flower on *Demigod* (2004) with the Pearl Eliminator.

## Key Facts

- Tama Starclassic Maple — Inferno's Satanica-era shell construction evolved for ZKC's demands
- First notably integrated Meinl Byzance cymbal configuration in Behemoth's recorded output
- Genre: blackened death metal at full symphonic-death crystallisation — the last album before Demigod
- Key tracks: 'Here and Beyond', 'As Above So Below', 'Horns ov Baphomet' — major blast beat showcases
- Recorded at Hertz Studio, Białystok — the same facility as Thelema.6 and subsequent Demigod
- Arc position: Thelema.6 (2000) → **Zos Kia Cultus (2002)** → Demigod (2004)
- Blast beat tempo range: 190–230 BPM
- Final Tama Starclassic Maple studio album before the Pearl Masters BRX switch on Demigod
- Estimated kit value: $2,200–3,800 (Tama Starclassic Maple, new 2002 pricing); $900–2,000 (current used market)
- Estimated snare value: $350–600 (Tama Starclassic Maple snare, this era)
- Estimated cymbal value: $800–1,400 (Meinl Byzance configuration, this era)

## Related Articles

- [Thelema.6 drum setup (2000)](/articles/thelema-6-drum-setup) — the preceding chapter in Inferno's arc
- [Demigod drum setup (2004)](/articles/demigod-drum-setup) — where this arc arrives at full force
- [What's In Inferno's Kit](/articles/whats-in-infernos-kit) — current live gear breakdown

**Source:** https://metalforge.io/articles/zos-kia-cultus-drum-setup

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