Dokken - Lightning Strikes Again

Published April 10 2008

*=Staff's pick	Standing On The Outside* Give Me A Reason Heart To Stone* Disease How I Miss Your Smile Oasis Point Of No Return I Remember Judgement Day* It Means Release Me This Fire*

Genre	Hard Rock	Don Dokken	Vocals
Tracks	12	Jon Levin	Guitar
Runningtime	51 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Frontiers Records	Barry Sparks	Bass
Release	11 April 2008	Mick Brown	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	Ratt, Bonfire, Y&T

Who would have thought that Dokken in the year of 2008 should release an album that sounds like a natural follow-up to the marvellous trio Tooth And Nail, Under Look And Key and Back For The Attack? Well, not me anyway. And when I tell you that the riffmaster himself George Lynch isn't in the band nowadays it's even more sensational. Jon Levin has done a great work in recreating the magic guitar sound and style that were found on these classic albums from the eighties. Even if it might feel speculative to copy the successful formula from the heydays this is what every fan of Dokken has been longing for in so many years (or tears maybe…).

Standing On The Outside leaves you with a smile on your face since it's classic Dokken with effective and driven guitars and catchy melodies. But what becomes more than evident right from the beginning is that Don Dokken isn't the vocalist he used to be. His vocal range has decreased dramatically through the years and he stays in the middle register all the way through the record. This, together with the fact that the compositions with a few exceptions lack really strong choruses makes my happiness about the musical direction fade a bit. On songs like Heart Of Stone, Judgement Day and This Fire however Dokken proves that they not only sound great but also is in possession of the melodies that they used to deliver. Not on par with their old stuff but by far better than I ever could imagine.

Lightning Strikes Again leaves me with puzzled emotions. I am overwhelmed about how the album sounds but a bit disappointed about some of the compositions. This is for sure a must for every fan of Dokken but I'm pretty confident they won't win some new fans with this disc. This is an admirable attempt that only partly works.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	5	8	6	6,5

Summary
6,5 chalices of 10 - Hawk