There's a few very progressive drummers I really love, but i don't think their style is extreme enough for Decon.

Seconding Yanic Bercier though! I forgot all about him!

Not sure what this kid is doing now, but I saw this clip of him at age 16 (!!) a year or two ago, and just thought of it. Some of the most amazing playing I've heard/seen and he seems incredibly diverse in his ability to play different styles. Not sure how much an impediment flying in from New Zealand would be, but it would be cool to have a young, relatively unknown drummer on the record.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHDjGtj18X0

I reiterate Derek Roddy only because he's notorious for being able to learn stuff fast and record it often in one take, thus his nickname "One-Take Roddy."

Dude! That Aaron guy is a freak!

Whats his deal... Whos he with?

Sorry, i know Kung_Fu_Jesus should answer this one, but as i check, i think is a soloist musician.

http://www.myspace.com/aaronthier

I don't know much about him really, other than he's Austrian. He has a website though: http://www.aaronthier.com/ I think he's done some Zappa tribute stuff and he's also played live with Blockwerk, some austrian experimental electropop band thingy by the looks of it. I dunno really. I just discovered him on youtube a few years back by accident.

Dude! That Aaron guy is a freak!

Whats his deal... Whos he with?

Sorry, Dev, I hear he's already seeing somebody.

Richard Christy, indeed! I love his work on "The Sound Of Perseverance" and he played Gene's stuff from Death as well of course, so I guess you could get along with him quite easily. He is really awesome and one of my favourites.

Another good choice would be Chris Baker from Atheist/Gnostic. Jazz Metal at its best and damn, if I could ever drum like him, I would be the happiest guy ever.

Or how about Trym from Emperor? Maybe not too progressive, but really fast.

George Kollias from Nile, should be known anyway.

Martin Axenrot from Opeth.

EDIT: Oh, and Marko Minnemann! That guy plays in Necrophagist, a very Technical Death Metal band, but he was also envolved in stuff from Paul Gilbert. He played as some some Simpsons-samples on drums, really sick stuff.

George Kollias from Nile, should be known anyway.

Oh, yes...

Martin Lopez (former Opeth)
Pete Sandoval (Morbid Angel)
Dave Lombardo (Slayer, duh)
Martin Axenrot (Bloodbath, he's no Lopez in Opeth)
Ryan is awesome too. I love Terror Syndrome

Ed Warby, although you've already 'worked' with him on The Human Equation. He's awesome.

Call me a whiner (and no one's paying attention, anyways, and that's okay and normal), but a whole lot of these names being listed are very talented but horribly uninteresting drummers.

[The Dev]

Who do you suggest? Who interests you? (besides Gene)

Sorry, skip this post. I can't seem to delete it.

I wrote it back there somewhere, but my top picks are Sean Reinert, Danny Carey, and Gavin Harrison. RVP is also a wonderful guy, but you want someone different. I don't know. I guess I'm not that into incredibly technical and super fast drummers. I supposed I've been spoiled by your last few human rhythm machines, but I have started to expect groove in your music.

But don't expect my opinion to be all that well-founded or worth paying much attention to. I'm just a listener, not a drummer myself. I can't compare them really except on those that for some reason just make me warm inside on account of their unique drumming skills.

Who do you suggest? Who interests you? (besides Gene)

If only you can get Richard Christy away from Howard Stern for a couple of weeks ...

Nick Menza may be interesting.

Paul Bostaph?

Is Nick Menza still playing somewhere? Last I heard, he was retired and no longer capable of drumming for physical reasons. That according to Dave Mustaine a few years ago, but it's been awhile. *shrug*