
Dom Lawson
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.
Latest articles by Dom Lawson

Devin Townsend discusses his prog world (while he’s hiding from his dogs)
By Dom Lawson published
Stick-collecting Canadian who preferred Motorhead to Marillion says Captain Beefheart didn’t know he was nuts, the Interstellar soundtrack floored him, and the Wildhearts are prog

10 Cardiacs albums to listen to and one to avoid
By Dom Lawson published
Cardiacs are easy to hate, with music that's unfathomable at times, but for fans of the weird and wonderful there's nothing else like them

The heartbreaking tragedy that produced a cult early 90s metal anthem
By Dom Lawson published
Armored Saint should have been bigger than they were – but they produced a classic in Last Train Home

Fuelled by humanistic thinking and pure, feminine power, Bianca's debut album is more proof that black metal has progressed far beyond Satanism and petulant rebellion
By Dom Lawson published
This is a special debut from a special new force in extreme metal

“Displays the ethos that first endeared them to space cadets”: Ozric Tentacles’ Through The Magick Valley
By Dom Lawson published
Latest box set spans 2002 to 2015 in style containing 10 discs and a hardback book

“Overwhelming, progressive as hell and utterly unique”: Peter Hammill’s solo box set
By Dom Lawson published
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.
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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?
By Dom Lawson published
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)
By Rich Wilson published
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."
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Metal Hammer published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
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
By Dom Lawson published
As their back catalogue reissues campaign reaches the halfway point, White Willow mainman Jacob Holm-Lupo explains the evolution of the Norwegian proggers
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