A theory on music I have

Some people don't agree with it, but I think it's pretty accurate.
I was listening to "Seize the Day" by A7X the other day, and I noted it was kind of weird that there's that fast solo in the middle of that song. I then noticed that nothing changed to make it fast except the drums, and upon further inspection, noticed the only thing that changed was the snare. It now came in on every other beat as opposed to every 4th.
This led me to think that the only thing that really matters in determining the pace of the music is the drums. It could be a crazy Metallica-like solo, but if the drums are playing slowly with the snare on every 6th beat or something, it would be a slow song.
Any opinions?

The drums do set the pace, they're the beatkeepers.

Now, by music theory, you are correct.

Although, by common logic, such songs probably don't exist.

Well, the snare usually keeps the tempo. More snare hits = faster tempo.
Even if the snare played the same beat there would still be a fast solo there. Hitting the snare ever other beat will better match the fast guitar solo in the song. The same thing happens in Afterlife. The snare starts hitting every other beat as soon as the solo kicks in.

Snare does not directly determine the pace of the music (just look at death metal).
It indirectly does though. The song would sound really messed up if everything was fast but the drums.

I must think more about this

Bluegrass is fast, but has no drums.

Steve Vai? There's a snare hit once every measure at about 80 BPM. The solos are quite a bit faster than that.

KermitForPrez wrote:Bluegrass is fast, but has no drums.

For this, my child, you receive 200 FanScore.

I think that's a fair trade.