Gene Hoglan

With his massive stature and general girth, there's no mistaking Gene Hoglan visually. With his spotless timing and metallic legacy playing drums for the likes of Strapping Young Lad, Death and Dethklok, there's no mistaking Gene Hoglan aurally. And now the legendary skins man issues The Atomic Clock, a debut DVD apparently of the instructional variety. Yes, over the course of an hour we watch Hoglan hammer out some of his personal favourite beats and offer a few tricks/rehearsal patterns behind an audio discussion about exactly what he's up to. However, while Hoglan is captivating, there's a decided lack of outright instruction to The Atomic Clock. Where other videos of this variety generally go over beats numerous times and offer many rehearsal patterns, there's virtually nothing of the sort here. Instead, there's more talk about how he applied certain ideas to songs than the typical "here are some things to practice" aspect fans are most likely clamouring for. Yes, there are moments of advice, but it's a bit unusual to hear Hoglan talk about himself as if delivering a director's commentary extra, i.e., "This is what I did on this song..." Maybe he's looking do something different. Possibly he didn't realize what people expect. Some might think he's averse to giving away trade secrets, lest he trains an army of students that take away from his work. Regardless, even though the information is sparse, it's Gene Hoglan; he's amazing; and just watching him hammer out some of the most amazing drum patterns ever is enjoyably frustrating. As for extras, including "Funnin' With The Devil," a backgrounder feature showing some of his haunts, "Stool Sample," an insightful look at how he warms up on bar stools, a pitch for the value of metronomes and a tour of Hoglan's kit, The Atomic Clock is thin but passable for diehards.