A blast beat is a drum beat that originated in hardcore punk and grindcore, and is often associated with certain styles of extreme metal, namely black metal and death metal, and occasionally in deathcore and metalcore. In Adam MacGregor's definition, "the blast-beat generally comprises a repeated, sixteenth-note figure played at a very fast tempo, and divided uniformly among the bass drum, snare, and ride, crash, or hi-hat cymbal." Blast beats have been described by PopMatters contributor Whitney Strub as, "maniacal percussive explosions, less about rhythm per se than sheer sonic violence".
The 'original' or traditional blastbeat is a single-stroke roll played between your cymbal and snare, with your kick playing simultaneously with every cymbal hit.
Napalm Death is said to have coined the term, though this style of drumming had been used by others for its characteristically chaotic sound .
The English band Napalm Death coined the term "blast beat", though this style of drumming had previously been practiced by others. Daniel Ekeroth argues that the blast beat was first performed by the Swedish group Asocial on their 1982 demo.D.R.I. (1983, "No Sense"),Sepultura (1985, track 11, "Antichrist").S.O.D. (1985, track 11, "Milk").Sarcófago (1986, track 10, "Satanas"). and Repulsion also included the technique prior to Napalm Death's emergence. Rockdetector contributor Garry Sharpe-Young credits D.R.I.'s Eric Brecht as the first on their 1983 debut but credits Napalm Death with making it better known.AllMusic contributor Thom Jurek credits Tony Williams of Trio of Doom as the "true inventor of the blastbeat" in 1979.