10 Best Hard Rock Drummers Of The '90s

By the time the '80s had started to fade, the next decade seemed to be the time for thrash metal to conquer the world. Just a year shy of the alternative boom, the sounds of intense downpicking and maniacal vocals were starting to quickly outshine the shallow bands trying to make the most of it on the Sunset Strip. Though Megadeth were known to combine eight different forms of shred into one song, the propulsive energy from Nick Menza put them into overdrive.

Joining the group right as the '90s began, Menza's lightning fast speed was just what Dave Mustaine was looking for to take songs like Holy Wars and Hangar 18 to the next level. While these songs could have easily been great highlights of Megadeth's early period, Menza's frenzied style sounds like he's about to take the song into another speed entirely.

Going through albums like Countdown to Extinction, Menza also proved his chops as a man who knew when to lay back, like on the straight ahead groove happening for most of Symphony of Destruction or the atmospheric work done on Foreclosure of a Dream. Menza might not have lasted past the first few years of the '90s, but every drummer to come after him had a benchmark to live up to after these albums.