Malcolm Dome

A key moment in the Canterbury band’s history came when the future Gong mastermind made contact with his former collaborator in 1966

They didn’t mingle with fellow prog pioneers and didn’t clamour for stardom – but co-founder Les Holroyd argues they were highly successful where it mattered

In 1976 the US prog rockers found themselves in the upper reaches of the US charts with drivetime classic Carry On Wayward Son – which nearly fell victim to lethargy

The best songs by Bad Company, the supergroup who took blues rock to the stadiums of America

The album that kicked Motley Crue to the next level – and nearly killed them

A rare interview with the late John Sykes, who died this week at the age of 65 – and some personal memories from Myles Kennedy

Return To Ommadawn was a fresh exploration of the ideas on his third album – complete with a vinyl gatefold sleeve offering “hours of enjoyment”

Released in 1971, the African-tinged record pioneered what would become world music, and took prog into fresh new waters too.

Heaven And Hell was the start of Black Sabbath’s short but glorious second chapter

He’s worked with Steve Howe, Wire and Gandalf’s Fist, and even on a metal magazine – but it’s the quirkiness and curiosity of his own band that makes the singer and percussionist most proud

Prompted by a disagreement that spilled into the public domain, co-founders Keith Emerson and Lee Jackson once visited the Prog office to set things straight

No band did more than Saxon to put the NWOBHM on the map

One of the 80s hitmaker’s early bands covered two of their songs – but it took him years to realise their genius, and he still doesn’t truly understand it

With help from an ex Yes member and a new engineer, 1981 release marked a significant update without a loss of their musical values. But is it a concept album?

Lamb Of God’s New American Gospel ushered in the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal a couple of years early

Metal’s all-time greatest concept album? Operation: Mindcrime could be it

In May 1967, the band’s debut single changed the musical world. Nearly six decades later it’s developed a long and protracted legacy

A US tour without enough dates, a move away from the sound that got them signed, frequent line-up changes and never any money – just some of the things that went wrong for the band who once stood alongside The Nice and Van der Graaf Generator

If there’s a thrash metal Big Five, Bay Area bangers Testament ares strong contenders

Tomorrow singer Keith West found himself at No. 2 in the Top 40 in 1967 with a song he’d never been meant to sing

Having recently quit Deep Purple, the bassist was looking for a new challenge in 1973. It came in the form of The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper’s Feast, featuring notable prog guest stars

Forget Nirvana’s Nevermind – it was Jane’s Addiction’s game-changing second album Ritual De Lo Habitual that ushered in the alternative rock decade

They may have been called “the thinking man’s metal band” but comparing themselves to ELP, Jethro Tull and King Crimson, they assert there was a lot more progressive thinking going on than many realised

Diamond Head’s Lightning To The Nations should have turned them into NWOBHM-era superstars, but instead it inspired Lars Ulrich to start his own band

Unrelentingly Northern in attitude, both parts the slow-burning band that split in two seemed happy with their lot – but is their story one of unfulfilled achievements?