Though his playing style is very technically demanding, he retains high accuracy at extreme tempos, earning him the nicknames "The Atomic Clock" and "Human Drum Machine".

He released his own album, the Gene Hoglan: The Atomic Clock DVD, and served as Testament's longest-serving drummer.

[2] Later Cozy Powell, Tommy Aldridge, Robb Reiner of Anvil, Rob "Wacko" Hunter of Raven and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor got him into double bass drumming.

[2] In 1983, Hoglan began his music career as a roadie (lighting engineer) for the thrash metal band Slayer, where he also played the drums during concert soundchecks.

He achieved greater fame during the mid-1990s playing with Death, at the same time that bandleader Chuck Schuldiner was taking that group into a more progressive style.

Subsequently, he recorded one album with the thrash metal band Testament, and made the acquaintance of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Devin Townsend, forging a lasting friendship.

Around this time, coming off of the final tour he performed with Death, Hoglan was approached by Slayer to replace a departing Paul Bostaph.

Hoglan was also part of thrash metal band Tenet, a side project of Strapping Young Lad guitarist Jed Simon, from 2003 to 2007.

[citation needed] On the Vancouver stop of Opeth's 2004 Lamentations tour, Hoglan stood in for drummer Martin Lopez, who was said to be having panic attacks.

[6] Opeth's drum tech had filled in for the two previous dates on the tour and Lopez rejoined the band for the Seattle, Washington, show.

In 2018, Hoglan played with both Anthrax and Testament on the same nights during the Slayer farewell tour while Charlie Benante was recovering from carpal tunnel syndrome.

[12] Gene was the drummer for Fear Factory from 2009 to 2012 and played on their release Mechanize; his association with the band ended when he was "no longer needed", and he expressed both a reluctance to join and a disappointment in the ultimate resolution of his tenure.

[16] In 2017, Hoglan released an art collection consisting of long-exposure photography of him playing with colorful glowing drumsticks, resulting in psychedelic imagery.