Artist: Dokken
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2008
Rating: 2.5/5
Dokken – Lightning strikes again (2008)
“Lightning Strikes Again” is the title of the fifth track on 1985’s “Under Lock and Key”, and with it Dokken are symbolically signaling that they’re heading back to that “old school” sound. The cover art also strongly recalls one of their older albums, the legendary “Back for the Attack”, except that the ill-judged white makes it look awkward as hell, like an unfinished draft. And that’s only the first disappointment. A quick spin of the new album makes it clear that, despite all the harking back to their mighty past, Dokken have held on to one of the things that crept into their music in the nineties, and that, for yours truly at least, grated on the nerves indescribably all through that decade. I’m talking about those whiny, soul-sapping, utterly unmelodic choruses typical of “grunge”, which were no doubt one of the reasons Dokken lost a good chunk of their audience after the golden age of the eighties. And because of this unacceptable compromise, which, let’s face it, is the common thread running through all the newer Dokken albums, any talk of a return to the old ways is totally pointless.
The songs on “Lightning Strikes Again” are set up energetic and nostalgic, sure, but the downside is that most of them get knocked flat within the first minute by a boring, funeral-march-like middle section that kills all their drive on the spot. You can already hear it on the opening track Standing on the Outside, whose intro strongly recalls Mirror, Mirror from Don’s solo album “Up from the Ashes”, released after the band’s first breakup. We get the same cold shower after the fantastic start of Give Me a Reason, where Jon Levin lays down a punchy rhythm in Lynch’s style, only for it to soon get watered down in the gloomy notes of a sleepy chorus. The all-around lethargy peaks with the dull Disease and the ballad How I Miss Your Smile, which can’t even remotely compete with the older masterpieces of the genre, of which let’s just mention the touching Alone Again from “Tooth and Nail”. Some of the dynamics and bite of that 1984 record come back in the last two acts. First the lively Point of No Return, then the bonus track Sunset Superstar, marked by double kick drums that are pretty unusual for the band, and which you’ll only find on the European edition of the album. It’s thanks to these tracks that the record doesn’t leave a completely bitter aftertaste.
Of course, the album has its upsides too. One of them is definitely the return to a classic guitar sound, once defined by old (mostly Marshall JCM 800) tube amps and then replaced in the nineties by more aggressive, synthetic distortion. Credit goes above all to guitarist Jon Levin, the band’s former lawyer and ex-member of Warlock, who joined Dokken after Reb Beach and then John Norum had both left Don. Levin has gotten really close to his famous predecessor George Lynch, both in tone and in technique, which shows most of all in the legato, which in some of the solo bits is a dead ringer for the one that made the sensei famous back in the day. The overall similarity in “sound” is so strong, in fact, that you have to wonder whether Levin used the same gear in the studio that Lynch used on Back for the Attack and his solo Wicked Sensation. But that’s only a compliment, because it’s the superbly produced guitar that saves an album that would otherwise be just like the tired “Dysfunctional”, which not even Lynch could rescue.
You could sum it up by saying the new record from these former hard rock heavyweights leaves a decent impression only if you don’t expect too much from it, or, put differently, it’ll probably satisfy those who never knew the band before. Either way, you have to admit that with “Lightning Strikes Again” Dokken managed to get a lot closer to their roots, at least on the instrumental side, and for that alone their new release doesn’t deserve to be written off. It’s simply one more, more or less successful, attempt to get back on the old paths and the big stages we’ve come to expect from the band. Props also go to the Italian label Frontiers Records, which has been working for years to keep the refined rock of the not-so-distant past from sinking into oblivion. Recently, besides Dokken, they put out a new solo project from Steve Lukather, among other things, and their announcement of a new Journey album, due any day now, looks very promising too. Then again, all the lovers of big “comebacks” will surely be happier with the new Def Leppard album, “Songs from the Sparkle Lounge”, which faithfully carries on the tradition of “Hysteria” in every respect and is the front-runner for the best release of the year in its category. So the nostalgics will get their fix. With Dokken or without them.
Lineup
Don Dokken – vocals
Jon Levin – guitar
Barry Sparks – bass
Mick Brown – drums
Track List
1. Standing On The Outside
2. Give Me A Reason
3. Heart To Stone
4. Disease
5. How I Miss Your Smile
6. Oasis
7. Point Of No Return
8. I Remember
9. Judgement Day
10. It Means
11. Release Me
12. This Fire
13. Sunset Superstar
Running time: 51:38
