# Meshuggah - "Swarm" Drum Cover



## toothbrush (Sep 29, 2015)

Greetings. So this track quickly worked its way into my list of favorite Meshuggah songs upon its release back in 2012. I'd always wanted to cover it and I finally was able to set aside some time recently to lend the song my best effort on the drums. Hope some of you enjoy it! Any feedback is always welcomed. Thank you.


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## mongey (Sep 30, 2015)

as a guitarist who hacks around on drums that was really interesting to watch man


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## toothbrush (Oct 1, 2015)

Thanks for watching man! Glad you thought it was interesting. Meshuggah certainly is interesting.


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## JEngelking (Oct 1, 2015)

That looks like quite the arm workout, nice cover! Your work is always solid, I wish I could play drums to the same level! Is the tom beat during the verses some sort of specific rudiment?


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## toothbrush (Oct 2, 2015)

*JEngelking*, thanks dude! Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, it's a rather grueling song, heh. My interpretation of the drum parts came from what I heard on The Ophidian Trek DVD; the tom patterns on that live recording are much more indicative (to me) of what Tomas is playing as compared to the drum sound on Koloss. His drums are so muddy and deep on Koloss that they lack tonality, which made it hard for me to understand the drumming on the song (not saying that's bad; the low tom sound actually adds to Meshuggah's heaviness and overall signature sound).

But having seen Meshuggah live open with Swarm in 2013 and then hearing the recording on The Ophidian Trek, I worked out (to the best of my ability) what I thought was a decent representation of Tomas' parts. I did play specific and rehearsed sticking patterns throughout the song but it's hard for me to chart it out via this forum's typing format. I might get around to transcribing it at some point or I might just hire Travis Orbin to transcribe it for me.


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## JEngelking (Oct 2, 2015)

toothbrush said:


> *JEngelking*, thanks dude! Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, it's a rather grueling song, heh. My interpretation of the drum parts came from what I heard on The Ophidian Trek DVD; the tom patterns on that live recording are much more indicative (to me) of what Tomas is playing as compared to the drum sound on Koloss. His drums are so muddy and deep on Koloss that they lack tonality, which made it hard for me to understand the drumming on the song (not saying that's bad; the low tom sound actually adds to Meshuggah's heaviness and overall signature sound).
> 
> But having seen Meshuggah live open with Swarm in 2013 and then hearing the recording on The Ophidian Trek, I worked out (to the best of my ability) what I thought was a decent representation of Tomas' parts. I did play specific and rehearsed sticking patterns throughout the song but it's hard for me to chart it out via this forum's typing format. I might get around to transcribing it at some point or I might just hire Travis Orbin to transcribe it for me.



No problem! Yeah I'd imagine it'd be hard to transcribe, seems like quite a bit going on.  The tone of everything certainly does add to the overall sonic aesthetic that really makes them sound like themselves. Although I did think that Koloss, maybe mix-wise sounded rather different from their other most recent albums.

Nonetheless, awesome work dude!


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## Lemons (Oct 5, 2015)

Solid stuff man!


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## toothbrush (Oct 6, 2015)

Thank you, *Lemons*!


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## russmuller (Oct 8, 2015)

Dude, VERY nice! You rocked it!

I always loved the groove on this tune. It's actually my favorite track off that record, and I think you did it justice.


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## toothbrush (Oct 9, 2015)

russmuller said:


> I always loved the groove on this tune. It's actually my favorite track off that record, and I think you did it justice.



Thanks for watching dude! I agree man, it's got some killer groove. What else would you expect from Tomas Haake?  

Koloss had some negative feedback from some long-time fans for not being quite as bizarre and overly technical as Meshuggah's past albums, but quite honestly I think it's one of their most mature releases. Swarm is a perfect example of this (to me).


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## jmeezle (Oct 12, 2015)

Wow dude. Coming from a giant Meshuggah snob who can't really stand to watch just about all Meshuggah covers on YouTube because they're played wrong, this was fantastic. You played that .... how it should be played! Please move to Ohio and play drums in my band


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## toothbrush (Oct 12, 2015)

jmeezle said:


> Wow dude. Coming from a giant Meshuggah snob who can't really stand to watch just about all Meshuggah covers on YouTube because they're played wrong, this was fantastic. You played that .... how it should be played! Please move to Ohio and play drums in my band



Thanks dude! The trek to Ohio is a tad far for me  Again, thank you.


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## isispelican (Oct 12, 2015)

great cover dude!


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## toothbrush (Oct 12, 2015)

isispelican said:


> great cover dude!



Thank you!


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## Spicypickles (Oct 19, 2015)

Very nice, I love watching drummers. It was actually my first foray into music, percussion.


I dig the hell out of this song too!


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## toothbrush (Oct 20, 2015)

Spicypickles said:


> Very nice, I love watching drummers. It was actually my first foray into music, percussion.
> 
> 
> I dig the hell out of this song too!



Thanks for watching! The song's groove is just awesome; glad you also enjoy it.


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## Monsteri (Oct 21, 2015)

Nice cover indeed! I aint no drummer but that looked exhausting to me  Maybe I just need to start working out...


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## Rev2010 (Oct 21, 2015)

Geez... I so envy you! 


Rev.


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## toothbrush (Oct 21, 2015)

Monsteri said:


> Nice cover indeed! I aint no drummer but that looked exhausting to me  Maybe I just need to start working out...



Haha, thank you. Yeah, it's a pretty tiring song to get through. Shows how much of a beast Tomas is to do that on tour with a full set list every night..!



Rev2010 said:


> Geez... I so envy you!
> 
> 
> Rev.



Well if it's anything to you, the list of drummers that I envy is quite lengthy. Thanks for watching, *Rev*!


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