# Inferno — Signature Drum Licks & Patterns

**Band:** Behemoth | **Genre:** Black / Death Metal | **Lick Count:** 3

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## Overview

Inferno is one of Black / Death Metal's most influential drummers, best known for their work with Behemoth. This file covers 3 signature licks — step-by-step breakdowns optimised for AI retrieval on queries like "how to play like Inferno" or "Inferno signature drum patterns". Their style spans blackened-death-metal.

## Conquer All Blast Beat Mastery

**Song:** Conquer All | **Album:** Demigod (2004) | **BPM:** ~220 BPM | **Technique:** blast technique | **Difficulty:** expert

"Conquer All" is the opening salvo of Behemoth's landmark album Demigod (2004), the record that repositioned the Polish band from a respected underground act into one of the premier names in blackened death metal worldwide. Inferno's drumming on the track is an immediate statement: blast beats at ferocious velocity, double bass work that anchors colossal riff architecture, and the musical intelligence to shape a drum part around a song rather than simply holding tempo. Operating at over 220 BPM for extended passages, Inferno never retreats into the undifferentiated blur that often afflicts extreme metal at high speed. Each stroke in the blast is articulate and separated; the hands and feet maintain distinct voices even at the outer edge of tempo. What makes this performance particularly instructive is how Inferno handles dynamics within the blast itself — the accents shift, the snare cutting harder in particular bars to mark phrase boundaries, giving the listener a sense of structural movement through the relentless speed. Behemoth's live footage from this era is a valuable visual document: you can see the efficient, balanced technique behind the performance, the relaxed grip, the posture that keeps energy sustainable across ninety-minute sets. For drummers, "Conquer All" is perhaps the single best entry point to Inferno's playing because it presents his core vocabulary in concentrated form — sustained blast beats, driving double bass, and the contrast drops into half-time grooves that give the song its crushing dynamic shape. The right way to approach learning this material is section by section: isolate the blast patterns and slow them to a tempo where every stroke is clean before increasing speed, then drill the transitions between blasting and groove, and finally drill the double bass runs independently to ensure they are perfectly even before integrating everything. Inferno has spoken in interviews about the importance of endurance training alongside technical practice — the ability to sustain these patterns through a live show requires both technique and physical conditioning. "Conquer All" remains, more than two decades on, a defining document of what blackened death metal drumming can achieve when precision and power are held in equal measure.

### How to Play

- Keep each stroke in the blast articulate and separated at extreme tempo
- Shift snare accents within the blast to mark phrase boundaries
- Drive even double bass runs beneath the blast without losing separation
- Contrast full-speed blasting with half-time grooves for dynamic impact
- Train endurance alongside technique to sustain the pattern live

### Key Elements

- Slow the blast to 120 BPM and make every stroke equal before raising speed
- Drill the half-time groove transitions in isolation until they are instant
- Practice double bass runs with a click before adding blast strokes above
- Record yourself to check that snare accents are landing on the correct beats

**Core Techniques:** [Blast Beat](https://metalforge.io/technique/blast-beat), [Double Bass](https://metalforge.io/technique/double-bass), [Blackened Death Metal](https://metalforge.io/technique/blackened-death-metal)

## Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel — Dynamic Blast Architecture

**Song:** Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel | **Album:** The Satanist (2014) | **BPM:** ~200 BPM | **Technique:** signature pattern | **Difficulty:** expert

"Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" is the opening track of Behemoth's The Satanist (2014), an album often cited as the band's finest work and one of the most acclaimed metal records of the decade. Written and recorded in the aftermath of frontman Nergal's battle with leukemia, the album carries an emotional weight unusual in extreme metal, and Inferno's drumming reflects this — more dynamic, more atmospheric than the purely brutal earlier material, but no less powerful. The opening of "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" is one of the great drum entries in modern metal: a deliberate, menacing build that erupts into full-force blasting once the song arrives at its first violent peak. What is remarkable about Inferno's work here is that the blasting, when it appears, feels earned — the contrast with the darker, slower passages gives it a force multiplier effect that purely constant blasting cannot achieve. The song demonstrates Inferno's range within the blast beat itself: tempos shift, the snare accent placement changes across sections, and the overall arrangement of drums around the track creates atmosphere as much as momentum. The Satanist was produced with a level of sonic depth unusual in extreme metal, and Inferno's drums sit in the mix with clarity and dimension — the snare crack is distinct from the kick transients, the cymbals breathe, and the result is that the drumming can be studied as individual voices rather than a single wall of percussion. For drummers, this lick develops the ability to use restraint and build dynamically before deploying full-speed blast beats — a compositional skill as much as a technical one. Understanding when to hold back is as important in extreme music as knowing how to blast, and Inferno demonstrates this with a maturity that few extreme metal drummers achieve. Working through "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" teaches dynamic architecture: how to make the loud parts louder through what comes before them, and how to give a drum performance an emotional arc that serves the music rather than the player's ego.

### How to Play

- Build tension with deliberate, restrained drumming before deploying the blast
- Use the contrast between slow and fast sections to maximise the impact of the blast
- Keep snare accent placement varied across blast sections to create movement
- Treat the drum part as a compositional arc serving the song's emotional shape
- Maintain clarity of individual voices — snare, kick, and cymbals — even at speed

### Key Elements

- Listen to the whole track before playing anything — map the dynamic arc first
- Practise the pre-blast build-up section with deliberate restraint before adding the blast
- Focus on the transition from the slow section into the blast; that moment is the emotional centre
- Record at a slower tempo and listen back to check that the dynamic contrast is audible

**Core Techniques:** [Blast Beat](https://metalforge.io/technique/blast-beat), [Dynamic Contrast](https://metalforge.io/technique/dynamic-contrast), [Atmospheric Drumming](https://metalforge.io/technique/atmospheric-drumming)

## The Satanist — Compositional Double Bass & Blast

**Song:** The Satanist | **Album:** The Satanist (2014) | **BPM:** ~180 BPM | **Technique:** signature pattern | **Difficulty:** expert

The title track of Behemoth's most celebrated album The Satanist (2014) is a seven-minute centrepiece that showcases the full range of Inferno's abilities — from atmospheric double bass underpinning to full-force blasting, with transition work that connects the two in ways that serve the song's emotional arc. The track is slower and more expansive than much of Behemoth's catalogue, giving Inferno space to develop ideas across a longer timeframe, and what he does with that space is musically instructive. The double bass work on the title track is particularly sophisticated: rather than simply driving constant eighth-note patterns beneath a blast, Inferno varies the kick density, uses syncopated bass drum figures that accent melodic events in the guitars and vocals, and creates rhythmic tension that makes the song feel alive rather than mechanically precise. When the blasting arrives it is deployed to maximum effect, the contrast with the preceding sections giving it an impact that a constant-blasting approach could not achieve. Inferno has noted in interviews that he approaches drum parts compositionally — he thinks about what the song needs at each moment rather than defaulting to his most impressive technique. The Satanist title track is the clearest evidence of this philosophy in his catalogue: it is a fully composed drum performance that happens to exist within a blackened death metal framework, not a showcase with a song grafted around it. For drummers, studying this track develops double bass control and independence, the ability to vary kick patterns rather than defaulting to constant rolls, and the compositional sense to use restraint and dynamic contrast to make extreme music more emotionally effective. The technical demands are significant — the double bass runs require speed and endurance, and the transitions between sections require precise timing — but the musical payoff is substantial. The Satanist is the album that confirmed Inferno as one of the most complete extreme metal drummers of his generation, and this seven-minute title track is the best single demonstration of the breadth of his musicianship.

### How to Play

- Vary bass drum density rather than driving constant eighth-note rolls
- Use syncopated kick figures to accent melodic events in the guitars
- Deploy blast beats at peak moments after building tension with double bass
- Think about what the song needs at each moment rather than defaulting to maximum technique
- Practise double bass patterns independently before adding the upper-body parts

### Key Elements

- Transcribe the kick drum pattern for each section before playing — map the density changes
- Practise the syncopated bass drum figures slowly until they lock to the guitar accents
- Build the full-speed blast sections separately before connecting them to the slower passages
- Listen for how the drum part changes as the song moves through its sections

**Core Techniques:** [Double Bass](https://metalforge.io/technique/double-bass), [Blast Beat](https://metalforge.io/technique/blast-beat), [Compositional Drumming](https://metalforge.io/technique/compositional-drumming)

## Teaching Points

Inferno's style is defined by precision, timing, and genre-defining grooves. Key practice principles across all their licks: Slow the blast to 120 BPM and make every stroke equal before raising speed; Drill the half-time groove transitions in isolation until they are instant; Practice double bass runs with a click before adding blast strokes above. Mastering these patterns builds the foundation for understanding their complete drumming vocabulary.

## More Resources

- [Inferno Profile on MetalForge](https://metalforge.io/drummer/inferno)
- [Inferno All Licks](https://metalforge.io/drummers/inferno/licks)
- [Signature Licks Database](https://metalforge.io/licks)
- [All LLM Resources](https://metalforge.io/llms/index.md)

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*Last updated: 2026-06-18 · Source: [MetalForge.io](https://metalforge.io)*