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For three decades, American rock band Tool has built a catalogue defined by long, meticulously structured songs with unforgiving rhythms and drum patterns so technical they're rarely attempted in one sequence.
Unless you're Tyler Visser.
The 19-year-old recently recorded Tool's entire discography -- 59 songs -- over a seven-and-a-half-hour, uninterrupted stretch that's now earned him a Drum Performance of the Year nomination from Drumeo, placing him alongside internationally known drummers like Blink-182's Travis Barker, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith and Tool's own Danny Carey.
It's a recognition the soft-spoken musician never expected.
A first-year McMaster University engineering student, Visser just drums for fun, practicing on a pad in his residence room during the week and heading home most weekends to play in a makeshift studio in the basement of his parents' Niagara-on-the-Lake home.
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"Being put up there in that list with Danny Carey -- who's Tool's drummer -- Chad Smith, Travis Barker ... I honestly can't describe it," he told The Spectator in an interview this week.
"It feels surreal because I've only ever put passion into this and it's only been my goal to kind of share that passion, to give people something to enjoy or be inspired by while I do what I love."
Passion is likely the only thing to explain why someone would endeavour to master one of mainstream rock's most punishing catalogues.
Take it from Drumeo themselves.
"Learning one Tool song on drums is tough enough," the world's largest online drum education platform wrote in Visser's award nomination bio. "But mastering all of them and performing them in one take is next-level."
While a rousing success -- the one-take performance has some 338,000 views on YouTube -- Visser admits it wasn't easy.
The challenge was as much mental as physical, with little room for rest as songs rolled from one album to the next. Visser planned ahead -- one water bottle per hour, bite-sized snacks within reach, Band-Aids for his fingers -- but bathroom breaks were an afterthought. Only brief, four-minute pauses between albums offered relief from the marathon. By the end, Visser's hands looked almost like clubs, with swollen and blistered fingers to match split callouses.
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"My knuckles, all of them," he recalled over a call from his dorm room, "were super swollen to the point I couldn't move them for the next few days."
Still, stopping never crossed his mind.
Drumming has been a part of Visser's life since early childhood. His mother, Leanne, herself a music lover who played snare drum in high school, remembered him banging pots and pans around the house as a toddler.
"When he was about five years old, he just said to me, 'Mom, I'd like to take drum lessons,'" Leanne said. "So, we signed him up."
Visser trained for eight years under instructor Penner MacKay, whom he credits with laying the foundation for his technique and discipline.
After that, the work became solitary. Visser never played in a band or relied on music sheets, instead drumming through what he described as "feel" and rhythm. Most of his development happened alone in his basement, covering songs he loved and gradually pushing himself toward more complex material.
"It's always kind of just been me," he said. "Over time, I wanted to see how far I could go."
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And he needed his parents as much as his hands to keep nurturing his passion.
"Probably one of the things I'm most grateful for is how supportive they've always been," Visser said. "Instead of getting upset about the noise, they encouraged me to play."
"I have to say, after a couple hours, you might want to put the ear plugs in," Leanne conceded with a chuckle. "But we just love seeing his passion. When he comes home, he's right on the drum set.
"I don't think he could live without it -- it's just a part of him."
In around 2018, Visser started to post videos of his performances on a small website for family and friends. He said it was mainly to keep track of his own progress.
"But they found it really interesting, so I decided to step into a bigger pool."
The 19-year-old published his first YouTube video -- a cover of the Foo Fighters' "My Hero" -- in 2020. Interest followed slowly. A year into YouTube, Visser did a cover of Tool's notoriously difficult song "Pneuma" and people took note. Viewers began to reach out, telling Visser his performances vicariously inspired them to pick up the sticks again -- sometimes after decades away.
"It brought me so much joy," he said. "Drumming is one of the things I enjoy most in life, and if I can spread that passion, inspire others or just let people enjoy something, it's a great feeling."
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The Tool discography project grew out of that mindset.
In an era dominated by short-form content, Visser wanted to try something deliberately taxing -- and human. He left mistakes in the recording and resisted edits. Prior to settling on the final take, he attempted Tool's discography five times. One early run ended three hours in after an error; he started again. Another stretched to nearly 10 and a half hours.
He said the take released Oct. 10 captured the catalogue properly -- mistakes and all.
"There's still a human element to the art people can make. It's not all AI and whatnot," he said. "I left a lot of mistakes in the cover to show that if you put your mind to something and stick to it, anything is possible."
Visser's presence in the online music space has exploded since the Tool project. More than 5,000 people have left a comment under his video and his Instagram has ballooned to more than 72,000 followers.
While some might say differently, Visser doesn't think of himself as a drumming prodigy.
He's just a student who loves being behind the kit.
"As much as things are happening online, I need to make sure I keep myself grounded and get myself an education, which is really important to me," he said Wednesday, fresh off his final exam of the semester.
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But if a crazy drumming-related opportunity did happen to present itself?
"Obviously, I'd have to really think about it."
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