Artist: Dokken
Label: Elektra Entertainment Records
Release: 1987
Rating: 5/5
1987 was a heroic year for America. Ronald Reagan stood in Berlin and publicly challenged Gorbachev to tear down that wall, the Lakers, led by Magic and Worthy, beat the reigning NBA champs the Boston Celtics in six epic games, and cinemas got the third instalment of the cult horror series Nightmare on Elm street – Dream warriors. The film, in which Freddy hunts a fresh-faced Patricia Arquette and her gang of fellow patients through a psychiatric hospital, is a worthy follow-up to the first part, directed three years earlier by horror master Wes Craven, today known mostly for the Scream trilogy. In story and cast the movie easily tops its rather unfortunate predecessor, and it also stands apart thanks to an excellent soundtrack, courtesy of Angelo Badalamenti and Dokken. Alice Cooper had already proven that heavy metal and slasher flicks are a deadly combination in the sixth Friday the 13th (The Man Behind The Mask and Teenage Frankenstein, both found on the album Constrictor) and then again in Craven’s Shocker, but Dream Warriors is arguably the best-known example of this kind of symbiosis. The big-budget video for the title song, shot on the film’s set, seals the deal: George Lynch, with Don Dokken at his side, strolls through foggy corridors and torments America’s favorite psychopath with his Skull n’bones guitar.
Dream Warriors closes Back for the Attack, the fourth and last real record from Dokken. The rift in the camp and the feud between Don and Lynch were an open secret, so the band breaking up after the live album Beast from the East, with which the label wanted to squeeze out the last few dollars, surprised nobody. The singer and the guitarist had long since stopped talking to each other or recording in the same studio, and thanks to the bitter bickering a courtroom epilogue was on the cards too. None of that shows on the album, though. It’s yet another technically flawless and surprisingly varied eighties masterpiece, only a bit darker than the previous Dokken records. If Under Lock and Key was more commercially minded and packed with radio-friendly hits, Back for the Attack takes us on an obscure journey into a land of ominous rhythms, polished solos and gang vocals, which, true to the era it was born in, stays listenable and interesting from start to finish. The energetic Kiss of Death and the melodic Prisoner kick the album off in style, and with the killer chorus of Night by Night, where Don Dokken’s much-criticized vocal chops really shine, it hits its first peak. Of course, the main attraction of the band is Lynch, whose guitar arsenal we can admire in the instrumental Mr Scary, which even earned him a Grammy nomination. More than his solos, marked by supersonic legato and double stops, it’s his riffs in songs like Stop Fighting Love and the already mentioned Dream Warriors that grab us, the kind of riffs no long-haired head can stay still or indifferent to. So this is first and foremost a guitar album, a sort of Lynch’s answer to Satriani’s Surfing with the Alien, with a distinct power metal flavor and frenetic riffs that make Satch’s sterile noodling look like a toy. Back for the Attack embodies the most prized aspects of its era: guitar mastery, a tight but not overly polished production and enviable harmonic flexibility, and on top of that there’s not a single track you could call filler. Sadly, we can’t say the same about the band’s later albums.
After Lynch left, Don Dokken recorded Up from the Ashes with John Norum (ex Europe) and Peter Baltes (ex Accept). It tries to carry on the tradition of that album, but despite a few bright spots like Give It Up and Down in Flames, it doesn’t come close. The same goes for Lynch, who around the same time put out the very promising Wicked Sensation with his own band, aiming to conquer the charts again, but in the new age of goatees and flannel shirts both projects went down in flames. The last desperate attempt to get the band back on the road to its former glory came in 1995 with the album Dysfunctional and the accompanying DVD Japan Live 95′, where the conflict between the members is already so obvious you can hear it in the music. After the disastrous Shadowlife, Lynch cashes his check (his own description of working in a band where he always felt boxed in) and leaves for the second time, while Dokken carry on limping along with releases that are, both creatively and technically, light years behind their eighties masterpieces.
So Dokken deserve to be remembered for the mighty albums of their past, like Tooth and Nail, Under Lock and Key and especially Back for the Attack, where their true greatness lies. Despite a somewhat dated guitar sound, the record still feels fresh, dynamic and just as listenable as it was twenty years ago, when the boys ruled the world’s charts. Don seems to have figured that out too, as he recently released the live album From Conception, made up exclusively of old material, and a DVD collection of eighties video clips called Unchain the Night. The DVD also includes the Dream Warriors video, at the end of which Freddy, tormented by a nightmare in his sleep, wakes up in a sweat, jumps up and cries: “What a nightmare! Who were those guys?” Ladies and gentlemen, that was Dokken at the peak of their glory.
Line-up
Don Dokken – vocals
George Lynch – guitar
Jeff Pilson – bass
»Wild« Mick Brown – drums
Production
Neil Kernon
Track list
1. Kiss Of Death
2. Prisoner
3. Night By Night
4. Standing In The Shadows
5. Heaven Sent
6. Mr Scary
7. So Many Tears
8. Burning Like A Flame
9. Lost Behind The Wall
10. Stop Fighting Love
11. Cry Of The Gypsy
12. Sleepless Nights
13. Dream Warriors
Album length: 63.08
