Nic Collins (Phil Collins’ Son) Performs Opeth Song on Drums as He Hears It for First Time: Watch

Nic Collins, the son of the legendary Phil Collins and a very talented drummer in his own right, is the latest musician to be challenged by Drumeo to perform a song as he hears it for the first time. In Nic’s case, he was given the brutal task of drumming along to the epic Opeth track “Ghost of Perdition.”

As we’ve seen in Drumeo’s previous “For the First Time” videos — like Chad Smith crushing Thirty Seconds to Mars’ “The Kill” and Mike Portnoy taking on Tool’s “Pneuma” — Nic is played the Opeth song minus a drum track, and has to figure out his own drum parts.

As Nic is being played the 10-minute opus, he breaks out into a sweat, exclaiming, “Dude, how long is this song? I don’t even remember how it started,” eliciting laughter from Drumeo host Brandon Toews. Nic, who is a member of the band The Effect, further laments, “This is so f**ked up.”

After writing down some notes, and going through three takes of the song, Nic finally performs his final take, with impressive results.

The YouTube comments are overwhelmingly positive, with one person writing, “As an Opeth fan, I give Nic full props for this. During his final take, I just kept muttering ‘WOW!’ over and over again.”

Another commenter remarked, “What’s the opposite word for Nepotism? Dude ate that up, no second-guessing on any of the drum strokes, every hit had a purpose and confidence behind it. Nic was thrown in the deep end and he came out like a boss.”

After his performance, Nic listened to the original song with then-Opeth drummer Martin Lopez’s drum track included, and commented, “Wow, so I guess there are some parts where I completely went a different route. You hear the music without the drums, and it completely takes you somewhere else.”

At the end of the video, Nic mentions that he has a new instructional series on Drumeo. If you’re looking to pick up the drums or improve your skills, Drumeo is offering a 30-day free trial for new members.

Nic performing Opeth was a bit of a full-circle moment, as Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt has cited Phil Collins’ band Genesis as one of his biggest inspirations.

Watch Nic Collins take on Opeth’s “Ghost of Perdition” in the Drumeo video below, and see where the song landed on Heavy Consequence‘s list of the 10 Best Opeth Songs.