Articles by Dom Lawson, Writer

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s. From 2014-2016, Dom worked as Editor-At-Large at Metal Hammer, overseeing the front section of the magazine and helping to mould the some of the features that ran in print every month. Outside of his writing duties, Dom has been a longtime radio host for Total Rock, where he currently hosts The Dompilation Tapes, a show dedicated to excellent music from pretty much each and every genre you can think of. Much like his hero, Iron Maiden bassist and founding member Steve Harris, Dom is a lifelong West Ham supporter.

Articles by: Dom Lawson

"These songs are so good that even a band called Rotting Christ should be able to capitalise." With Pro Xristou, Greece's premier extreme metal band have just crafted their most accessible - and perhaps most magnificent - album yet

By Dom Lawson published 20 May 24

Rotting Christ have written the most immediate hooks of their career without compromising one jot

"Dark Superstition is the moment where Gatecreeper become a more well-rounded and versatile heavy metal band." Gatecreeper confirm their status as one of the most exciting bands in death metal with album three

By Dom Lawson published 16 May 24

Gatecreeper have evolved nicely without compromising their extreme metal roots on the excellent Dark Superstition

"The most aggressive thing Kerry King has produced since God Hates Us All": Kerry King's solo debut From Hell I Rise sees the thrash legend at his tooth-gnashing, head-banging best

By Dom Lawson published 13 May 24

Slayer might have called it quits in 2019, but From Hell I Rise proves Kerry King still has a lot to say

“We didn’t want to be some huge rock’n’roll band. We wanted to make music for the people”: the inside story of Kyuss’ Blues For The Red Sun, the classic album that changed the course of stoner rock

By Dom Lawson published 11 May 24

How cult stoner rock visionaries Kyuss made 1992’s classic Blues For The Red Sun

"It’s a responsibility but also a privilege to share this same kind of consciousness with new generations of people." The fantastic return of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

By Dom Lawson published 10 May 24

The story of the Italian prog legends Banco del Mutuo Soccorso return after 25 years with new album Transiberiana

Sebastian Bach: Child Within The Man cover art

"An unapologetic celebration of what he does best": Sebastian Bach appears ageless on the bombastic and sonically monstrous Child Within The Man

By Dom Lawson published 10 May 24

An impressively explosive return from one of metal's biggest fans, Sebastian Bach

“They’re not interested in pleasing their label or fans – just themselves. That’s what I try to do too”: Ihsahn and his wife want you to listen to Radiohead

By Dom Lawson published 8 May 24

When people were just beginning to see that the Emperor man was a progressive musician, he’d long been all over Thom Yorke’s artistic bravery

“Nothing was too crazy. Nothing was too outrageous. Once we had a beautiful part, we thought we should make it evil and disturbing”: Powered by red wine and bored with prog metal, Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt made Storm Corrosion their way

By Dom Lawson published 7 May 24

Porcupine Tree and Opeth leaders’ 2012 collaboration wasn't what many people thought it would be – instead it was something more experimental which they described as “organic pagan minimalism”

“They couldn’t get the chicken feathers and blood cleaned up quick enough”: the epic story of Motorhead in the 21st century

By Dom Lawson published 4 May 24

How Motörhead’s late 90s and early 2000s three-piece line-up more than lived up to past glories

"A glistening benchmark for melodic rock excellence since the mid-80s": FM continue to glisten on Old Habits Die Hard

By Dom Lawson published 3 May 24

London’s AOR lifers FM keep up the good work on album number 14, Old Habits Die Hard

“There’s plenty to sustain and even expand the myth of their mission to reconstruct rock music”: Faust’s Momentaufnahme III

By Dom Lawson published 18 April 24

Infectious enthusiasm glows out of unheard curios and a few previously-released tracks

"Tarantula Heart is the best Melvins album since the 90s": They shaped sludge metal and inspired Nirvana, but Melvins are still punk metal weirdos on new album Tarantula Heart

By Dom Lawson published 18 April 24

Grunge forerunners and sludge metal pioneers Melvins are pushing the envelope again with their new - and 27th! - album Tarantula Heart

"We both wanted to rock out, so we started coming up with those kinds of pieces and it made us all feel great so we just kept going." Glass Hammer and the making of Dreaming City

By Dom Lawson published 17 April 24

Glass Hammer co-founder Steve Babb tells Prog why the band decided to step into the world of swords and sorcery for Dreaming City.

Every Judas Priest album ranked from worst to best

By Dom Lawson, Rich Hobson published 16 April 24

Judas Priest are the ultimate defenders of the faith: here's how we ranked their incredible, storied back catalogue

"No wonder this beautifully bleak record is so heavy": Faraoese doom merchants Hamferd prove the worst things do happen at sea with monolithic new concept album Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk

By Dom Lawson published 27 March 24

Based on real-life tragedy on the Faroe Islands, Hamfrerd;s new album Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk is one of the most stunningly crushing doom metal albums you're likely to hear in 2024

"It’s a maths geek’s love song to maths!" The story of Van der Graaf Generator's A Grounding In Numbers

By Dom Lawson published 14 March 24

Van der Graaf Generator's third reunion album, 2011's A Grounding In Numbers saw the trio working with shorter form but no less complex material

“Before I wrote The Cartographer, I would’ve avoided using anything except strings – because I didn’t understand and had no cause to”: Jo Quail learned to write for trombone just in time to add energy to her EP set Invocation/Supplication

By Dom Lawson published 14 March 24

Experimental cellist explains how she took two very different musical approaches and blended them with the very different voices of Maria Franz and Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari

“I shouldn’t speculate why we were singled out, other than because we were massively offensive”: how Cannibal Corpse became death metal’s first million selling band

By Dom Lawson published 13 March 24

Blood, guts and Jim Carrey – the epic story of death metal provocateurs Cannibal Corpse

Steve Harris of Iron Maiden performs at Rogers Bayfest in Sarnia, ONT Canada on July 14, 2012 in Sarnia, Canada

“It might be significant that my two favourite pieces of music of all time are Supper’s Ready and Thick As A Brick”: What Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris learned from prog

By Dom Lawson published 12 March 24

The guiding light of NWOBHM geeks out on Peter Gabriel leaving Genesis, covering Jethro Tull but not wanting to meet Ian Anderson, the length of ELP solos, his struggle to get into Marillion and more

Meshuggah shouting into the camera in 2008

“People think we get our calculators out and work out some kind of complex mathematical formula”: how Meshuggah redefined tech metal for the 21st century

By Dom Lawson published 11 March 24

With 2008’s landmark obZen album, Meshuggah were streets ahead of the competition – and the kings of punking other bands

"We like to keep the fans on their toes, and we like to keep ourselves on our toes too." The story of Between The Buried & Me's Automata concept albums

By Dom Lawson published 9 March 24

US prog metallers Between The Buried & Me Automata concept albums were so complex the band released them as two separate discs

“While recovering, I didn’t want to stress myself out, so we didn’t rehearse as much. Luckily when I write the music, I give the hard parts to everyone else!” Earthside’s choice between aiming for perfection and getting their second album out ASAP

By Dom Lawson published 6 March 24

It took eight years to deliver Let The Truth Speak, amid world events, personal health issues and logistical challenges – but the result is bold, cinematic and defies all expectation

"We’re not a band that writes about fast cars, hot chicks and partying." How Queensrÿche got their prog metal groove back with The Verdict

By Dom Lawson published 2 March 24

Seven years into their reinvention with Todd La Torre at the front, the new, rebuilt Queensrÿche are stronger than ever before. But with album number 15, they haven’t lost sight of their past.

“Genesis, Floyd and ELP all received so much more popularity… I’ve always just accepted who and where we were and I don’t think about why we didn’t reach those same heights”: Andy Latimer is happy if Camel managed to matter

By Dom Lawson published 29 February 24

Despite having once discovered that “orchestras are a bunch of little kids and hooligans,” the band leader wanted to return to the Albert Hall after reinventing The Snow Goose

“A beautiful farewell from an instinctively progressive talent”: Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis made one stunning solo album, then walked away for ever

By Dom Lawson published 24 February 24

Vocalist’s 1998 release was full of prog promise for the future, but turned out to be his last artistic statement before his 2019 death

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