Latest articles by Malcolm Dome
The story of Sabbat’s cult late 80s pagan-thrash classic Dreamweaver: Reflections Of Our Yesterdays
UK thrashers Sabbat made an overlooked classic with their second album, Dreamweaver: Reflections Of Our Yesterdays
When Sir Christopher Lee met Tony Iommi: “When I go to see a good concert from a metal band, it’s exhilarating”
In 2010, Metal Hammer brought together acting legend Sir Christopher Lee with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi for the ultimate metal summit
Testament’s The Legacy: the story behind a classic thrash metal debut album
Testament never scaled the heights of Metallica or Slayer, but their 1987 debut album The Legacy remains a thrash classic
"Our style has always been defined by the fact that we sound a little like Pink Floyd, Genesis and Marillion." Mystery and the making of One Among The Living
Best known as Jon Anderson’s replacement in Yes, Benoît David rejoins cult Canadian proggers Mystery, as they prepare to release the strongest album of their career.
“We took influences from the New York hardcore scene. Our stuff was faster than in the Bay Area”: the 100mph story of East Coast thrash
The inside story of 80s thrash’s great East Coast vs West Coast rivalry
The money Caravan spent, and the money they never received
When Pye Hastings and Geoffrey Richardson were interviewed by snooker icon Steve Davis, they admitted their “floaty and disorganised” state meant they were doomed to be victims of bad business decisions
“Grindcore really resonated with Americans. Our bands were being noticed before they’d even gone over there”: the ear-splitting history of Earache Records, the label that changed metal
“Often derided as a huge error by the NWOBHM heroes, it’s the start of an artistic journey that was never taken further”: Diamond Head’s dalliance with pure prog on Canterbury
Visionaries Sean Harris and Brian Tatler came up with something so demanding they had to change rhythm section - which only served to confuse diehard fans
The manager said, ‘Ian Anderson and the boys don’t want you in the band so you’ve been fired.’ I replied, ‘How can you fire me when I quit three weeks ago?’” Mick Abrahams’ life after Jethro Tull
Health issues have made it almost impossible for Blodwyn Pig founder to play guitar – but he maintains ”it could be worse”
“He phoned up the Jesus Army and claimed I was possessed by demons and needed help!”: how Cathedral dragged doom metal into the 1990s with their landmark debut album Forest Of Equilibrium
Former Cathedral frontman Lee Dorrian looks back on the making of a doom classic
“I’m happy we’ve had hits. But I do wish the record label had put out some of our challenging songs as singles”: Some only know them as ‘That Africa band,’ but how prog are Toto?
They were inspired by prog heavyweights and their records have always contained surprising depth
“That whole Christian thing, it’s so wrong. We were never Christian metal”: how doom pioneers Trouble overcame chaos, darkness and misunderstanding to make their 80s masterpiece The Skull
The story behind Chicago doom lords Trouble’s landmark 1985 album The Skull – the album which helped shape a generation
“We were broke. We couldn’t even afford food or drink. That’s how bad things were”: how Judas Priest’s Sad Wings Of Destiny finally set them on the path to heavy metal immortality
Judas Priest’s landmark second album Sad Wings Of Destiny was released on this day in 1976
Ten moments of maverick musical genius from Keith Emerson
Emerson, Lake and Palmer legend, composer and synthesiser pioneer Keith Emerson fused the power of rock music with the beauty of classical
“We invented the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal as a joke”: how Chimaira bounced back from the edge of oblivion with Resurrection
Chimaira helped start an entire a scene but never got the same acclaim as some of their peers. They hoped to change that with 2007’s classic Resurrection album
“Why is writing your own material such an obsession for so many people? They should be grateful we don’t write songs. They’d be terrible”: Manfred Mann has no time for his own back catalogue
Bandleader insists he’s not prog and he’s never made a classic album - but he knows what he’s good at, and he still loves doing it
“People don’t realise the depth and diversity on the rest of the material. If you’re a Yes or Genesis devotee, this band should be on your radar”: Kansas’ image problem means even a future member struggled to discover them
Zak Rizvi – a driving force for the band’s two most recent albums – once thought they were a southern rock or country rock band, until he dug deeper than Carry On Wayward Son and Dust In The Wind and found their prog roots
"That song will long outlive us. Can't think of a better calling card to leave behind": The Buckcherry song that'll be the band's epitaph
In 2006 Buckcherry released Crazy Bitch. The song title saw the band accused of misogyny, and the video made it a whole lot worse
“We were spoofing the idea of the concept album, but in a fun way that didn’t totally mock it… It’s only in recent times that I’ve appreciated how complex the music is”: Why Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick needed to be serious - and a send-up
Ian Anderson set out to make “the mother of all concept albums” while incorporating a large measure of Monty Python - but some people laughed at all the wrong places
“Oliver Wakeman scared me to death - he had so much energy coming out of him and I’d had just gone through my first series of cancer operations”: Gordon Giltrap is a loner who loves collaborating
Guitarist shares his love for troubadours, his connection with holiday TV shows, and admits that just because he’s spiritual, it doesn’t mean he’s a good person
“We were inspired by the Brits at the start, then the British media forced us to become a different type of band. Made and broken in the UK, you could say”: The prog credentials of Styx
Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw believe that despite the big hits, the band always had something more substantial at heart
“I’ve been thinking of taking drum lessons… What I won’t do is put together a new band”: What Nick Mason said before he put together a new band
With Pink Floyd recently wound down, their drummer considered his future – and at the time it didn’t include his Saucerful of Secrets project
“When I listen to Sheik Yerbouti and Joe’s Garage, it reminds me of what a giant he was." Frank Zappa's incredibly busy and industrious 1979
Terry Bozzio and Adrian Belew look back on the year Frank Zappa created Baby Snakes, Sheik Yerbouti, Joe's Garage and more
“The hallmarks of Pink Floyd during the Obscured By Clouds era, with some deftly disturbing guitar plunges… A uniquely gifted and unfathomable band”: Thee Hypnotics’ Come Down Heavy remains hard to define
Their 1990 studio debut was full of prog promise - but one member’s reputed refusal to deal with his drug addiction limited their rise
