Sound: Dokken had a huge amount of success in the 80s become one of the the biggest bands of the 80s hair metal movement. In 1987 the band released their 4th album "Back For The Attack" their most successful album to date charting #13 on the US album charts. As you would expect this is your normal Dokken album when it comes to sound, but the songs are a lot better as the previous albums so the band members growing as musicians very rapidly, unfortunately this was the band's last album together until 1995's "Dysfunctional". As any Dokken fan would know any early Dokken album wouldn't be a Dokken album without the noticeable George Lynch guitar tone. As always he gave the fans what they wanted to hear and it can really be heard on the instrumental track "Mr. Scary" as Lynch tears it up for four an a half minutes. On songs like: "Kiss Of Death", "Standing In The Shadows", "Heaven Sent", "Night By Night", and "Dream Warriors" Lynch rips into amazing guitar solos which help capture what does and can do live.
One thing you can notice about this album is minus the tracks "Burnin' Like A Flame" and "Sleepless Night" this album is a lot heavier than the 3 previous albums "Breaking The Chains" (1981/1983 Re-release), "Tooth And Nail" (1984), and "Under Lock And Key" (1985). One song that stands out a lot is "Dream Warriors" it's this song that helped the album become this successful by being in "Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". Due to the song being in the movie it's darker than most Dokken as Lynch starts the song in an eerie clean guitar tone which continues into the verses giving the vocals of Don Dokken and Jeff Pilson a chilly sound. // 10
Lyrics and Singing: Lyrically and vocally its amazing this was the high point of vocalist Don Dokken's prime. On the songs "Kiss Of Death" and "Standing In The Shadows" he goes for it at the end hitting those high notes like he did at the end of "Lightning Strikes Again" from the "Under Lock And Key" album. This time though you can tell its a lot smoother then before. On the song "Night By Night" you will find the most powerful backing vocals on this album as the lines of "It's now or never/Get out of the way/It's now or never/So baby can't you see" it gives off a p***ed off feel with Don Dokken hitting high on the last line. For the most part the lyrics are what you got on the previous 3 albums the only difference between those albums and this one is that the song on "Back For The Attack" are more about being together and in love unlike the songs on the previous albums which dealt more with break-up and heartbreak. // 10
Impression: This album shows how great of a band Dokken was and still truly is and it's unfortunate that over the years with band tensions boiling over that bassist Jeff Pilson (now bassist for Foreigner) and guitarist George Lynch (now either working with Lynch Mob and Solo deals or building and promoting his guitar modes with ESP) are no longer members of the band. Comparing this album to the three before is like taking Metallica's "...And Justice For All" and comparing it to the first three Metallica albums I'd be dead in rock 'n' roll heaven still driving myself crazy trying to do it you just can't. I love everything about this album and recently just had to buy it again which is now my 4th time buying because I've worn out my other copies so much. All that's left to say is if you don't own this scrap up $10-$15 go to your local K-Mart, Meijers, Target, FYE, Best Buy, etc. And buy it then go home and listen to it front to back I can promise it's fully worth you time and most importantly with the economy it's for sure 100% worth your money. // 10
Nice review. Rock on!