Metal Month was all about the heavier side of drumming, but heavy doesn’t mean every cymbal needs to do the same thing. Sometimes you need a ride that stays present when the guitars get loud. Sometimes you want an accent that explodes and disappears before the next riff lands. Sometimes you’re just looking for a sound that makes you stop and think, where can I use that? During Metal Month, we introduced four very different answers: the 22″ HHX Sonic Surge, 21″ AAX Power Bell Ride, 9″ HH Razor Plate and 21″ AA MantaRAY Chinese.
There are cymbals you hit for an accent, and then there are cymbals you can really explore. The 22″ HHX Sonic Surge falls into the second camp. It’s a thin, fully hand-hammered pang-style cymbal with a dark, low-pitched voice, but the interesting part is what happens after you make the connection. With sticks, it opens quickly and pushes into a long surge of sound. Switch to mallets and you can pull something completely different out of it, building gradually into a dark wash. That gives the Sonic Surge a lot more to explore than a single big hit. You can crash it, swell it or let it become part of the texture of the song.
When the music gets heavy, you still want to hear every note you’re putting into the ride. The 21″ AAX Power Bell Ride gives you that definition without having to hold back. Its heavy weight gives the stick something solid to work against, while the pinpoint-lathed bow keeps each note focused as the volume comes up. Then there’s that massive 8″ raw bell which makes for an easy target. For metal, hard rock or any situation where your ride pattern is a focal point in the arrangement, this is a cymbal you can lean into.
Most of us have looked at a setup and wondered where we could possibly squeeze in one more cymbal. At 9″, the HH Razor Plate gives you another voice without asking for much room. It’s completely raw, hand hammered and has a high-profile shape that responds differently depending on where you put the stick. Catch the edge and you get a short, bell-like tone; move onto the bow, and it turns into a focused ping. That makes it the kind of cymbal you start looking for spots inside a fill, alongside a stack or anywhere you want a quick accent that doesn’t hang around.
The 21″ AA MantaRAY started with Ray Luzier looking for a new kind of accent to add to his sound with Korn. He wanted the impact and trash of a China, but he didn’t want the cymbal hanging over everything that came next. More than a year of development led to the MantaRAY and its unmistakable shape. The first hit is explosive and low pitched, but the sound drops almost immediately. Finish a fill with it and you get the punctuation without covering up the riff that follows. In a dense live mix that quick exit is what makes the MantaRAY such a useful voice.
Metal Month gave us a chance to explore some sounds that feel right at home when the music gets heavy, but there’s plenty here that reaches beyond metal. That’s the fun part. A new cymbal might solve something you’ve been looking for, or it might take your playing somewhere you hadn’t planned. The HHX Sonic Surge, AAX Power Bell Ride, HH Razor Plate and AA MantaRAY Chinese each bring something different to the setup and we’re looking forward to hearing where you take them.