Listening to [_Blue Oyster Cult_]’s “Cities on Flame”, I realized that the reason all of these older albums I love have comparatively wimpy-sounding drum tracks is because the drummers are too good–to make a big goddamned noise, you have to hit so hard that you lose any notion of subtlety.
John Bonham is arguably the prominent exception. Even when he’s beating the crap out of his kit–on “We’re Gonna Groove”, for instance (though listening back to it, its drum track is less in-your-face than I imagine it to be)–he’s still got a very subtle way with timing.