Dom Lawson

Dom Lawson

Writer

Dom Lawson began his inauspicious career as a music journalist in 1999. He wrote for Kerrang! for seven years, before moving to Metal Hammer and Prog Magazine in 2007. His primary interests are heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee, snooker and despair.

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.

Dom is politically homeless and has an excellent beard

Latest articles by Dom Lawson

New bands
The best new metal bands you need to hear this month

By Merlin Alderslade Published

From history-obsessed power metallers to sonically devastating singer-songwriters, here are the new artists you need to know about

Bands & Artists
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“If they had the flares and beards and the record was from 1971 or 1972, that was what I wanted… records that looked odd and I could afford”: How Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt discovered prog

By Dom Lawson Published

From extreme metal to Camel and Genesis to collaboration with Steven Wilson, the Swedish musician's career is surely one of the most progressive

Interviews
Marillion with Steve Hogarth
“I didn’t have much knowledge of Marillion. A singer who painted his face like Peter Gabriel? It all seemed a little bit derivative…” How Marillion reinvented themselves with Steve Hogarth and Seasons End

By Dom Lawson Published

When Fish left Marillion, the band had two options: Move forward or become a parody. And then they met an aspiring – and initially sceptical – art-pop singer-songwriter called Steve Hogarth…

Bands & Artists
David Gilmour and Alex Paterson
“We’ve had a few Floyd moments… we got a giant ghetto blaster on a boat and parked it in the harbour… we closed down an airport for six hours!” The Orb were prog all along

By Dom Lawson Published

Accidental albums with David Gilmour and Robert Fripp aren’t the only connections Alex Paterson’s psychedelic electronic group have with the progressive genre

Albums
A montage of album covers picked by famous musicians
30 musicians on the album that changed their life as a kid

By Classic Rock Published

Members of Kiss, Black Sabbath, Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard, Rage Against The Machine and more reveal the albums that set them on the path to rock stardom

Albums
Amon Amarth 2008
"We were ahead of our time": How tales of Thor, lightning-spewing hammers and a battle to the death at the end of the world turned Amon Amarth into the world's favourite heavy metal Vikings

By Dom Lawson Published

Amon Amarth's Thor-referencing epic Twilight Of The Thunder God also gave the band their breakthrough hit

Bands & Artists
Skindred: Smile cover art
Skindred have just released the banger-packed, life-affirming soundtrack to everybody’s summer

By Dom Lawson Published

Benji’s banger brigade hit new heights as Skindred release liberating eighth album Smile

Albums
Dave Mustaine playing guitar onstage in 1995
The 10 greatest Megadeth riffs of all time

By Dom Lawson Published

Love him or hate him, no one can deny that Megadeth mastermind Dave Mustaine has written a host of legendary riffs. Here are the 10 most neck-snapping.

Bands & Artists
Various album covers from the 2000s
The 50 best metal albums of the 2000s

By Merlin Alderslade Published

From nu metal classics by Slipknot, Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit to metal legends like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest bouncing back in style, these are the albums that defined the 2000s

Albums
Elegant Weapons: Horns For A Halo cover art
If it's big, boisterous, melodic metal anthems you're after, Elegant Weapons may be just what you need

By Dom Lawson Published

Judas Priest man Richie Faulkner returns, backed by Rex Brown, Ronnie Romero and Scott Travis, on Elegant Weapons' debut Horns For A Halo

Albums
Metal albums of April 2023
7 brilliant metal albums you might have missed last month

By Rich Hobson Published

Grave Pleasures, As Everything Unfolds and Dodheimsgard are among the albums that might have flown under the radar in April

Albums
Last In Line: Jericho cover art
Last In Line looser and grittier than before on the classy Jericho

By Dom Lawson Published

Former Dio men Vivian Campbell and Vinnie Appice return with third album of thunderous hard rock, Jericho

Albums
Killer albums you need to hear in March 2023
7 killer metal albums you might have missed this month

By Rich Hobson Published

From Kruelty and Demonstealer to Ad Infinitum, nothing,nowhere. and Lana Del Rabies, don't sleep on these brilliant new metal albums

Albums
Prog Must
Five cool new prog acts you need to hear this March

By Jerry Ewing, Jeremy Allen, Gary Mackenzie, Matt Mills, Dom Lawson Published

Check out Moundrag, EBB, Cabiria, Wizrd and Shell Beach – five great new up and coming prog artists

Bands & Artists
Uriah Heep group shot
Uriah Heep's Mick Box: "I feel like I’ve done ten rounds with Mike Tyson and not got a punch in"

By Dom Lawson Published

Uriah Heep have lost a few friends but are enjoying a golden era, and new album Chaos & Colour is defiantly upbeat and inspirational

Interviews
Iron Maiden: The Number Of The Beast
New singer, new attitude, new era: how Iron Maiden’s The Number Of The Beast changed metal forever

By Dom Lawson last updated

Bruce Dickinson joined Iron Maiden in time for the band's iconic third album, The Number Of The Beast. Things would never be the same again

Albums
Spiritualized
"I’ve never made a deadline in my life. They’re finished when they’re finished.” Spiritualized and the story of their first four albums

By Dom Lawson Published

Jason Pierce guides us through those first four groundbreaking Spiritualized albums

Albums
Best albums of 2013
20 killer metal albums turning 10 in 2023

By Paul Travers Published

From Bring Me The Horizon’s Sempiternal to Ghost’s Infestissumam, happy birthday to these absolute montsers

Albums
Uriah Heep: Chaos And Colour cover art
Uriah Heep: still fully in touch with what made them great 50 years ago

By Dom Lawson Published

Another Box-fresh hard-rock bull’s eye as Uriah Heep release album number 25 Chaos And Colour

Albums
Riverside
The making of Riverside's Shrine Of New Generation Slaves

By Dom Lawson Published

Following a Number One album in their home country, Poland's Riverside hit new heights with 2013's Shrine Of New Generation Slaves

Bands & Artists
Katatonia A Sky Void Of Stars album cover
Dark-prog magi Katatonia deliver more epic gloom on Sky Void Of Stars

By Dom Lawson Published

Album review: Katatonia’s 12th album Sky Void O Stars proves that they’re the masters of sumptuous sullenness

Albums
Beardfish
“I realised quite early that this album would deal a lot with growing up." Beardfish's 2015 album +4626-COMFORTZONE would also be their last until they reformed last year

By Dom Lawson Published

Released in 2015, +4626-COMFORTZONE was Swedish prog rockers Beardfish's eighth studio album. It also would also be the band's last for nine years...

Albums
Albums Of 2022
The 50 best metal albums of 2022

By Rich Hobson Published

From Ghost and Slipknot to Zeal & Ardor and Ithaca, these are the best albums of the last 12 months

Albums
Kassogtha/Fellowship/1914/Gospelheim/Melted Bodies
5 new bands you need to hear this month

By Rich Hobson Published

From Gojira-style Swiss prog metal to anti-war Ukrainian death metal, these are 5 new bands you need to hear right now

Bands & Artists
Best black metal albums of 2022: Watain/Zeal & Ardor/Kaoteon/Abbath/Ibaraki
The 10 best black metal albums of 2022

By Rich Hobson Published

From Abbath and Blackbraid to Gaerea and Zeal & Ardor - these are the 10 best black metal albums of 2022

Albums
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