Rob. The question is who left the others in the dust? Who stepped up? Rob is above all of the others in terms of stepping up. Brad does a good job, but nothing he did made me think, "damn." Where as with Rob I thought to myself, "dude. damn." If I could pick two I'd say Rob and Brad, but because we only got one option, Rob. Neither of them are doing anything too impressive, but at the end of the day Rob's drums completely engulf and help create the raw sound of the album whereas most of Brad's solos are buried deeper in the mix(which I think is very punk because the goofy quiet solos are "so sticking it to the guitar man...man.")
I'm not arguing that Brad didn't step his game up on this album. It's just that the type of stuff he's playing on this album is similar to stuff he's shown flashes of in the past with the In Pieces solo and the live outro to Faint. His extent of "stepping up" on this album was more of him actually picking up his guitar and playing it regularly again when he hadn't done so for the last two albums. He's also playing more consistently at a higher level of difficulty instead of only doing it occasionally, but again, it's not really dramatically above and beyond some stuff he's done before. I'm just hopeful that Brad continues to be inspired to play guitar, starts practicing regularly again, and steps his game up even more on the next record. He turned a corner on this one that set him up to potentially do some really cool shit in the future, if he chooses to put in the effort.
rob why is this even a poll? despite everyone else's strong effort on the album, rob kills on this record and that's a fact
Tough choice for me. Here are some things that influence my decision. Rob: -Rob started lifting weights to build strength for the intensity of the drumming, but Brad looks like he hasn't gained a pound since high school. -Mike made the tweet that Rob saved FM with his much better drum groove. Also, I frickin love that initial drumming. -Returned from the last two albums which featured prominent electronic drumming. He took over on THP. -Rob also added more to his drum kit with the double bass pedal and such. Not as much sample triggering live so far. Brad: -Finally showed himself after waiting for the past few years. -Interesting solos, but not impossible to pick up. His are more about speed than technicality. Kind of like what Mike said about Rakim's verses being crafted as if they were guitar solos. -The solos that he is doing on WID live are usually better than his solos on THP, featuring a little more variety and transformation in them. Look at his solo at Rock in Rio or the album release party to see. However, this is about THP, not in general (and if we count that we have to count Rob's drum solos live). -Brad may not have moved forward much if it weren't for Mike encouraging him. Kind of like they had to encourage him on MTM. Then again, once Mike had told him what to do he stayed determined. -Brad also helped a lot with production and even writing lyrics on the album which is impressive but I'm not sure if we should add that as general performance on the album or strictly to their respective instruments. Winner: Rob, but it was a tough choice for me. Rob just didn't have any downsides.