Most drummers will quickly tell you that Mike Portnoy sits in their top 5 list of influential and greatest drummers ever! Im right there with you! Though shortly after I got in to Dream Theater, I got in to the Dillinger Escape Plan. Chris Pennie was and still is one of the greats. Sadly he is under-rated. Dont believe me. Look up any videos of Chris Pennie playing linear. Good luck mimicking that!

That being said, when Chris left Dillinger, Billy Rymer took his place. It’s a very big shoe to fill but Billy has done it masterfully.

This is a video of Billy and Mike Portnoy hashing it out in a drum battle. I mean, its pretty obviously Billy stomps him out. Though you have to get credit to Billy at the 5:07 mark when he shows his respect for Mike and plays the intro drum fill to 6:00 from Dream Theaters Awake album.

Great video and impressive drumming from both guys.. Though I mean, you can skip through the Portnoy parts if you just wanna see Billy teach you a lesson.

(oh, I don’t own this video damnitt. Please no letters!)