The Godfather of Double Bass? One of the most influential drummers in metal, and in rock period? A founding metal of the definitive thrash metal act of its era? It has to be Dave Lombardo of Slayer.
Born in Havana, Cuba and raised in the greater Los Angeles area, Dave Lombardo joined Kerry King in Slater fresh out of high school, and immediately helped produce a sound the likes of which the world of metal had never heard before. With his intricate fills and rapid fire rhythms keeping up with King’s riff’s and the band’s beyond-bleak imagery, Lombardo immediately carved out a niche for himself during thrash’s hey day of the mid to late 80s.
And though he was clean shaven during Slayer’s halcyon days, during his later projects into the 90s such as Mike Patton’s Fantomas and later rejoining Slayer, Lombardo would don an beard as immaculately groomed as his precise drumming style, which is befitting of the series that these two western conference titans will now conclude tonight.
