Hey all,
 
I am working on my new EP which is heavy metal/thrash focused, this time I don't have the luxury of a live drummer so I need an alternative. I own Sonar X2 Producer. Should I be looking for a new drumming vst or can I get more midi content and use SD3?

Ezdrummer with either the metal heads, metal machines or drumkit from hell expansion pack. All on sale at the moment as well.

That said session drummer with the slate sizzle kit should get you close. 

there isn't nothing session drummer cant do with a little work.
I get my hands on some .WAV samples. simply drop them in to the pictures of their respective drums in the SD3's GUI.
as far as beats are concerned, if your doing an EP do you really want some cookie cutter beats?
I would make my own like I always do.

if you look in my sig I have a few videos on drum editing using session drummer in the Piano roll view.
use that or any other vids on you tube. 
its easy and fast.

+1 for what Charlie and Stinga has said...and Mr. Roy's videos are VERY good!

http://www.ugoaudio.com/plug-ins/ironhead

Ugo Audio - a real synth drum.  If you can 't get good thrash drums w/ it, well ...

@

Addictive drums metal pack is glorious.

+1 on the Addictive Drum recommendation.  AD has a wide range of kit options and "canned" beats.  Not overly expensive and is good value for the money.  Plus, the guys who created AD are very good to deal with.  Have fun and let us know what you decided on.

Another recommendation for EZ Drummer, and their Metal Machines expansion in particular.

all those suggestions are actually really good.
my only theory was session drummer is free, or it comes with sonar.
with samples you can make any good drum sound.

with session drummer I can turn any sample into anything I want, it takes a bit of practice that's all.
 
one the other hand if you want to throw the cash around, there have been some excellent suggestions, BFD is another great sounding drum synth for metal.

Nobody wants to recomend SSD4?
They got some rad metal kits!