Latest articles by Dom Lawson
“Overwhelming, progressive as hell and utterly unique”: Peter Hammill’s solo box set
183-song box set offers a colossal overview of the Van der Graaf Generator vocalist and eternal musical outlier
Simple ideas and happy accidents took a Dutch band to the pinnacle of prog. And yodelling.
Master craftsmen’s 1971 release was a unique fusion of ingenuity, passion and febrile chemistry – plus some tension – and they never looked back
“The anchor that Genesis revolved around”: An appreciation of Tony Banks
Pattern-Seeking Animals keyboardist praises Banks’ ear, taste and understatement, which he argues is essential to everything Genesis achieved
Looking for the best thrash metal album of 2025? Testament have your back with Para Bellum
40 years in, Testament are still doing it louder and better than most bands that arrived in their wake
I'm an Iron Maiden fanatic and decided to rank every single one of their live albums from worst to best
UPDATED Iron Maiden are the undisputed heavy metal daddies of live albums. Here's every one they've released so far, in reverse order of excellence
Can Vimic's Open Your Omens live up to Joey Jordison's legacy?
Almost a decade since Vimic first released music, their debut album Open Your Omen is finally here
“They go for the heart as well as the head”: Marillion’s 20 best songs (they can’t believe No.7)
Does the only album with four entries suggest there’s a definitive record from the neo-prog giants? Does the split between the Fish and Steve Hogarth eras reveal a preferred vocalist?
"Musical insanity comes in many forms. Igorrr are attempting them all at once."
Avant-garde maniacs Igorrr are breaking brains with a little help from Mr. Bungle's Trey Spruance
"Everything about this band rules hard." Fantasy doom metal heroes Castle Rat have made one of 2025's most epic metal albums in The Bestiary
Looking like they've stepped out of the world of Conan The Barbarian, Castle Rat are one of metal's most vibrant new bands
“Genuinely shocking, and uninterested in the post-rock status quo”: Jo Quail’s Notan
The cello champion defies comparison as her compositional skills continue to develop and impress
Nosound’s rush return after seven years with To The Core
Giancarlo Erra had been avoiding guitar in favour of synths in solo and collab projects. Then he realised he’d assembled enough music to form a release, and had a good reason to do it quickly
Jean-Michel Jarre predicts music will follow video games into immersive universes
The death of a mentor and the world-pausing Covid event gave the eternal pioneer a chance to discover another new approach to his art: “The visual field for a human being is 140 degrees, but the audio field is 360 degrees”
One of the nastiest cult thrash metal bands you might never have heard of just made one of their best albums
New Desaster album Kill All Idols is more proof they should be way bigger - but maybe music this deathly and monstrous needs to live in the shadows
“Brought back to life with tremendous care”: Cardiacs’ On Land And In The Sea
The late, great Tim Smith’s prog-punk magnum opus returns on vinyl for the first time since 2007
Every Megadeth album ranked, from worst to best
Dave Mustaine has announced the metal icons’ final album – here’s how they got here
"If the bleak world is too much, hole up here”: Auri’s III – Candles & Beginnings
Tuomas Holopainen, Troy Donockley and Johanna Kurkela offer beautiful distractions in a collaborative set of soundscapes
How Mark Wilkinson’s artistic genius helped define Marillion’s image
With the Market Square Heroes sleeve acting as a successful audition, his partnership with the neo-prog icons meant he joined them in being free to create whatever art they wanted to
"My ambition is always to try to make the perfect album. I haven’t yet, but I’m still trying!” Jacob Holm-Lupo tells the story of Norwegian proggers White Willow
As their back catalogue reissues campaign reaches the halfway point, White Willow mainman Jacob Holm-Lupo explains the evolution of the Norwegian proggers
Jinjer, Blood Incantation and Rivers Of Nihil on the rapid evolution of progressive metal
Members of Jinjer, Blood Incantation and Rivers Of Nihil explain the current rapid evolution of a genre that broke out 40 years ago
Katatonia’s new era begins with Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State
Sweden’s melancholic masters successfully navigate recent choppy waters to deliver their lucky 13th album
How prog metal icons Dream Theater went full nerd-mode with epic concept album The Astonishing
There’s big, and then there’s Dream Theater’s 2016 prog metal blow-out The Astonishing
The rise, fall and resurrection of Armored Saint, the cult band who should have been as big as Metallica
Armored Saint were one of the greatest 80s metal bands never to hit the big time
Machine Head's Unatoned has so many crushing riffs that it should come with a health and safety certificate. This is a band back in peak condition
Machine Head's epic bounce back continues with the brilliant Unatoned
