UMM's Featured drUMMer...
by Therese Bradley/Photos by Kim Stock

JASON BITTNER OF SHADOWS FALL
AND BURNING HUMAN

I know there are a lot of drummers that are fast, really fast. Executing gravity blasts at super-sonic speeds is the mainstay of the current metal scene. But what many of these drummers lack is, well, a personality. If all you can do is sound like a drum machine, then I'm not interested. Impressed at your dexterity, yes, but not interested at all. Machines lack soul, they are cold, calculating devises that routinely perform perfunctory tasks that we humans no longer have the patience for.

I want to see a drummer with passion and creativity. What is music without the human element that invokes it? I can hear any piece of music and dissect it with my brain, but the songs that stick with me are the ones I can FEEL. This is what separates good drummers from amazing drummers. They use their talents to bring more to the rhythm section than just beats.

Jason Bittner is my pick for this issue's featured drUMMer. His versatility is almost unmatched, incorporating jazz and latin influences between hammering out blast beats. Dynamic and insanely fast, he has not pigeon-holed himself into one genre, but can expertly play to almost anything. And between Shadows Fall and Burning Human, he indeed covers just about everything. I tend to enjoy the heavier stuff, and Burning Human's Resurrection Through Fire is exactly what death metal is supposed to be. And Jason is busy! This September, look for Shadows Fall's next album Retribution.

But besides balancing two bands, Jason recently found the time to participate in the “Stick It to MS” event which raised over £34,5000 for a leading UK multiple sclerosis charity. Over 582 drummers played in the same place at the same time, attempting to break a world record.

Versatile, brutal, fast, and charitable- all things a good little drummer boy grows up to be.