Richard Christy vs George Kollias — Drum Gear Comparison | MetalForge
Side-by-side gear: Richard Christy (Death / Iced Earth) vs George Kollias (Nile). Kits, cymbals, pedals, sticks — compare specs and prices.
Frequently Asked Questions
What drum kit does Richard Christy use?
Richard Christy uses Pearl Custom Z with Sabian AAX & HHX Series (14" AAX Stage Hi-Hats, 18" & 19" AAX X-Plosion Crashes, 21" HHX Raw Bell Dry Ride, 18" AAX Chinese). Christy played a Pearl Masters Custom kit with maple shells — a single 22"x18" bass drum, compact four-piece tom setup, and a Pearl Sensitone or Masters Maple snare at 14"x5.5" or 6.5" — paired with Sabian AA and AAX cymbals, an Axis A Longboard double pedal, and Vic Firth American Classic 5A/5B sticks, all captured at Morrisound Recording under producer Jim Morris. Kollias plays a far larger Pearl Masterworks Stadium Exotic kit with maple/birch hybrid shells and double 22"x18" bass drums for live shows, driven by the Pearl Demon XR double pedal he co-designed with Pearl's engineers specifically for extreme-speed playing, cut through with Zildjian K Custom Dark and A Custom cymbals, and struck with his own Vic Firth SGK signature sticks — extended-length models built for reach and balanced speed.
What drum kit does George Kollias use?
George Kollias uses Pearl Masterworks Stadium Exotic (Piano Black with Gold Hardware) with Zildjian (14" K Mastersound Hi-Hats, 17" & 18" K Custom Dark Crashes, 21" A Custom Mega Bell Ride, 18" China). Christy played a Pearl Masters Custom kit with maple shells — a single 22"x18" bass drum, compact four-piece tom setup, and a Pearl Sensitone or Masters Maple snare at 14"x5.5" or 6.5" — paired with Sabian AA and AAX cymbals, an Axis A Longboard double pedal, and Vic Firth American Classic 5A/5B sticks, all captured at Morrisound Recording under producer Jim Morris. Kollias plays a far larger Pearl Masterworks Stadium Exotic kit with maple/birch hybrid shells and double 22"x18" bass drums for live shows, driven by the Pearl Demon XR double pedal he co-designed with Pearl's engineers specifically for extreme-speed playing, cut through with Zildjian K Custom Dark and A Custom cymbals, and struck with his own Vic Firth SGK signature sticks — extended-length models built for reach and balanced speed.
Which is better, Richard Christy or George Kollias?
Richard Christy and George Kollias represent technical death metal's musicality-versus-velocity axis from two different eras. Christy proved on "The Sound of Perseverance" that the same drummer could deliver relentless blast beats and genuinely restrained musicality within a single album, a legacy he built before stepping away from full-time metal into entertainment. Kollias has spent twenty years with Nile pushing sustained blast-beat speed past 240 BPM while teaching the technique openly to the next generation. Both are blast-beat specialists whose playing reshaped what technical death metal drumming could sound like — just measured on different axes.