BARK AT THE MOUNIER

I’ve admitted before that I’m not exactly the biggest death metal fan. Not that I don’t respect it but I just can’t really get into it. Now, as I’ve been pretty lazy lately I’m going to go back to one of the original focuses of this site, which is the flying feet, and crazy hands of metal drummers.

It would seem as though if someone were to conduct a metal drumming world cup France would be well represented. With players like the previously covered Dirk Verbeuren and Cryptopsy’s Flo Mounier they’d be a pretty tough team to beat. So yeah, this is about Flo.

It’s impossible to deny that this guy is a one man wrecking crew. It’s also fitting that he left France only to move to Quebec, the metal mecca of Canada. Not quite sure what’s going on over there but with bands like Voivod, Cryptopsy, Kataklysm, and Gorguts, that province for one reason or another has seemingly had a head start on the rest of us.

Cryptopsy has without a doubt released some vital Death Metal. With records like None so Vile and Whisper Supremacy they’ve more than established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. But if you listen to their albums you get the distinct impression that it is the Flo show. Not taking anything away from the rest of the band as they have chops to spare but when you listen to their new record the two things that seem to stand out are the sounds of Lord Worm’s dog barfk vocals and Flo’s drum assault.

So here’s a picture of Flo’s drumset. As you can see when he came up with the configuration he decided not only go over the top but also beat the crap out of the top and then eat it. If you look closely you’ll see five foot pedals. If you’re not sure what these are all used for I’ll explain it to you. There are the obvious double bass drum pedals and high hat. There is also the not so uncommon 2nd high hat for open positions and then of course the Flo fast forward pedal which he uses to manipulate time.



Last year there was a music exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and one of the pieces on the display was Flo’s drumset. There were also a few occasions where people could go watch Flo play as part of the exhibit. Here’s a video of this and watch towards the end where Flo activates the fast forward time manipulator pedal. I swear this is not sped up and you may find youself swearing at the inhuman speed on display.

Here’s a song from the new Cryptopsy record (Once Was Not) called Adeste Infidelis. This is music made by people just because they can and want to. It’s also music made by crazy people for crazy people.