While he is of course intrinsically linked to Dream Theater, Mike Portnoy has opened himself up to a whole new audience this year after he stepped up to the plate to record, and subsequently tour, with Avenged Sevenfold in the wake of Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan’s death. The result is arguably Avenged’s strongest output to date, and Portnoy is deservedly enjoying the adulation of the band’s army of fans.

Of course, many were well aware of the drummer’s talents long before he joined up with M Shadows and co. His work with Dream Theater is jaw-droppingly impressive (as is his workload with the prog masters, churning out pretty much an album a year since their debut in 1989), and his stints with OSI, Transatlantic, Neal Morse, Liquid Tension Experiment and more mean that he’s one of the busiest sticksmen around, as well as one of the most visually engaging an impressive. No wonder he earned more than 29,000 votes in our poll.

Next: Joey Jordison