Dokken - "Broken Bones" review (Metal Temple)

[AlphaMale]

http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/reviews/cd_3/d_2/dokken-broken-bones.htm

 

When I received the new DOKKEN album, I really didn't know what to expect. Not because they are one of my favorite all time bands, it is mainly because of their latest albums of the early 00s and the late 90s that didn't make a good impression on me and also because of Don Dokken that lost his vocal abilities from what we all knew in the 80s. I don’t think that I need to write any introduction about DOKKEN like I usually do on my album reviews so I just will get to the point.

 

I got an album with eleven songs but the first thing that I noticed was the front cover that gave me innuendo that it is all about pure Metal record like in the old days, but still I was skeptical. The first song named “Empire" gave me the feeling as if DOKKEN took me back to the time of "Back for the Attack" era, especially with old hit opener, "Kiss of Death". Fast Heavy Metal riffing, sounds very enormous and big, Dokken sounds better than the recent albums, thanks to his vocal surgery to correct problems with his nodes and tears in his vocal notes that he passed on two years ago. He sounds like on "Under Lock and Key" But without the high notes. In the middle of the song there is a melodic break that continues to a great guitar solo by Jon Levin. Yes he doesn't bring what the almighty George Lynch provided to the albums but he got his own unique touch. This exquisite performance is the cause of what made them to stand up and break the chains. The self title song, "Broken Bones", felt to me a little weak for a song that carries the album’s name. It has less energy and doesn't seem to go anywhere while keeping the same formula without developing. But one thing I sure can say and that the chorus has a nice melody. I recognized that again on the next song "Blind" and I could be sure that Dokken could have given much more from himself but something was missing here when it comes to his singing, that little bit of passion in exchange of a flatline without dynamics.

 

Musically, the song "Waterfall" presents something else of the DOKKEN style, it has many breaks in it and you would notice it commence by the amazing drum work of Mick Brown but again except of that fact it didn't catch me. I would consider the songs "Best Of Me" & "Victim Of The Crime" as problematic. Generally I didn't sense any vibe in both of them but on the other hand they got magic in their melodic choruses and causes for a fast addiction. "Today" is something unfamiliar with the band’s heritage, an acoustic song, not bad at all, reminded me a little bit an acoustic version tunes of SCORPIONS album "Acoustica".

 

Finally I got my Hard Rock energy after seven moderate and regular songs under the name "For the Last Time". It combined the peaceful atmosphere that they knew to provide like on their early hit song "Hunter", a mixture with the Heavy Metal dose of "Lightning Strikes Again". There you got a perfect song with a very heavy riffing and with attitude. The bad thing is that I expected Dokken to open up in full; it was so needed of him to sing with more balls. I think he did a great job in overall, but it could have sounded way better. The production sounded pretty well, also it is good opportunity to mention the nice work of Maor Appelbaum who did the mastering for the album.

 

This album was hard for me to review, I think that DOKKEN came back to their olderselves, they hatched a great album to the world, the songs are very nice and cracking, but it was hard to compare this one to their familiar and beloved material from 80s as the new album fell from them. I felt that Dokken could have let himself go than what is in the album, balls and roughness were missing. The lead guitar work is outstanding even while I was trying to get George Lynch out of my mind. Same thing with “Wild” Mick Brown that challenged and showed that he is a master, same thing should be said about the bass work of Barry sparks.

 

I could definitely say that the album is a step back to the roots, it has the right spirit in it and the sound, but still it lacks several varieties of the past that should have accompanied it. I am happy that DOKKEN unleashed a good album than their previous work of recent years.

 

Tracklist:

1. Empire

2. Broken Bones

3. Best of Me

4. Blind

5. Waterfall

6. Victim of Crime

7. Burning Tears

8. Today

9. For the Last Time

10. Fade away

11. Tonight

 

Lineup:

Don Dokken– Vocals

Jon Levin – Guitar

“Wild” Mick Brown – Drums

Barry Sparks – Bass

 

Record Label: Frontiers Records

 

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Just got through my first spin of this and I'm not all that happy with it. The reviewer above does a pretty good job at explaining this disc's shortfalls. While Don's voice has improved somewhat, the disc still seems kind of flat and uninspired.

[Nightrain]

I think what the Dokken gang put out here is awfully average. The 90s influence is just too much, the best track here is definitely 'Empire', and they should have put out like 6-7 tracks like this instead of crawling in the mid/slow tempo area which is quite dull to be honest. 'Broken Bones' riffs are just way too flat although the melodic chorus doin' fine, but that with the last two tracks which are quite okay are 7.5 material I guess.

 

'Blind', 'Waterfall', 'Victim of The Crime', and 'Today' are unnecessary, many will skip that I believe. 'For The Last Time' is kickin' ass ! love that track, probably that and 'Empire' are the best of the bunch. We're lookin' at a reasonable 70% maximum rating here and perhaps DOKKEN should have closed the door for good

[Glen]

Spotify for me this one just to confirm what I already fear

[Olfert]

_{Isn't it Sean McNabb handling the Bass?}

[Rockposer]

Yep Empire is probebly the best track, the rest I found pretty boring.

[Evil Rick]

I went through all the samples on amazon. "Empire" was a pretty good track, but the rest nearly put me to sleep. Too bad, after the last couple of albums and Don's supposed vocal improvement I had some high hopes for this one.

[AlphaMale]

This is nowhere near the quality of "Lightning Strikes Again". A huge disappointment to me. This is not what I want from a Dokken record. Most of these songs will bore you to tears. T&N's disc blows this away. Maybe that's why George, Jeff, and Mick did Tooth & Nail instead of a Dokken reunion.

[The Rocker]

This is nowhere near the quality of "Lightning Strikes Again". A huge disappointment to me. This is not what I want from a Dokken record. Most of these songs will bore you to tears. T&N's disc blows this away. Maybe that's why George, Jeff, and Mick did Tooth & Nail instead of a Dokken reunion.

You've heard the T&N?

[Metal T]

Keep spinnin' it guys...some d#mn good stuff on there.'Empire','Broken Bones','Burning Tears','Blind' (sick riff!) and 'For The Last Time' are great tunes.

[AlphaMale]

This is nowhere near the quality of "Lightning Strikes Again". A huge disappointment to me. This is not what I want from a Dokken record. Most of these songs will bore you to tears. T&N's disc blows this away. Maybe that's why George, Jeff, and Mick did Tooth & Nail instead of a Dokken reunion.

You've heard the T&N?

 

Yes and it kills Broken Bones.

 

[Rockposer]

This is nowhere near the quality of "Lightning Strikes Again". A huge disappointment to me. This is not what I want from a Dokken record. Most of these songs will bore you to tears. T&N's disc blows this away. Maybe that's why George, Jeff, and Mick did Tooth & Nail instead of a Dokken reunion.

You've heard the T&N?

 

Yes and it kills Broken Bones.

 

True

[The Rocker]

This is nowhere near the quality of "Lightning Strikes Again". A huge disappointment to me. This is not what I want from a Dokken record. Most of these songs will bore you to tears. T&N's disc blows this away. Maybe that's why George, Jeff, and Mick did Tooth & Nail instead of a Dokken reunion.

You've heard the T&N?

 

Yes and it kills Broken Bones.

 

True

I just heard some samples, I will have to listen to them back to back in order to decide which is better.

[RichieZ]

Wow, I was hoping to hear some better feedback on this, but I'm a Dokken diehard so I'll still buy it.

[Nightrain]

I'm also a big fan of Dokken so I might ended up buying this one to complete the collection.

 

What I don't understand is that actually Don is capable of creating some bad-ass heavy metal songs and that's shown in 'Empire', 'For The Last Time', and 'Tonight'. I mean, if he stuffed this album with 4-5 tracks like this, I guess many will shout that the album is way better than 'Lightning' and probably come back to their peak era, even though with lower-register vocal, but instead, he still stubborn and went down the alternative/90s path, and I can see 4-5 tracks are dreadfully creeping in the slow-darker-Alice-in-Chains region.

 

Not sure what he's trying to achieve with that, because sure thing those 80s chaps won't like it, and those grunge fans had move on and pick bands like Nickleback, Alterbridge, and some other stuffs, but he's Don, and probably that's why he and George will never get back together again. At least, Jeff Pilson also won't be on board anymore because I believe he prefers to stick with the 80s, a strong reason he's with Foreigner now.

[Metal T]

Been listening to this one since Thursday and can honestly say that to me this is a very solid record.Levin once again play his f**king ass off on here.While perhaps not on par with LSA i will say with the exception of maybe 3 songs the bulk of the album is quite good.Don sounds excellent on this.Don't judge on samples,i listened to few prior to the release and felt kind of meh about it.The sound on this one is great.Get the album and judge for yourself,i like it...

[axslinger6774]

Might have to buy this one used...I liked Lightning Strikes Again, but Don's voice was probably the weak link on that album, ironically.

[Nightrain]

Might have to buy this one used...I liked Lightning Strikes Again, but Don's voice was probably the weak link on that album, ironically.

 

I think the same case also goes with Tom Keifer - these two are the most memorable weak vocalist nowadays, the age are killing them, and to put another one, Jon Bon Jovi. So, even though Don sang mostly in the mid-range, that's okay for me as long as he maintain the classic Dokken hooks, but not in this case I'm afraid. A friend of mine also agree with me that there's too much 'Alice In Chains' going in the middle of the album, so probably a better name for them should be Dokken-in-Chains

[AlphaMale]

A continuation of LSA sounding material would've worked better IMO. These songs, as said, stray too far into alternative.

[Evil Rick]

A continuation of LSA sounding material would've worked better IMO. These songs, as said, stray too far into alternative.

Don seems to have a habit of doing that off and on, which really sucks for fans of the original Dokken sound.

[Fat Freddy]

I've had Broken Bones since the week it was released, I've listened to it at least once a week since then, and to this day the only song that sticks in my head is "Empire." The rest sounds fine while it's playing but it leaves no impression once it's over. It doesn't out-and-out suck but it's not very memorable either. Lightning Strikes Again was way better.

[AlphaMale]

I've had Broken Bones since the week it was released, I've listened to it at least once a week since then, and to this day the only song that sticks in my head is "Empire." The rest sounds fine while it's playing but it leaves no impression once it's over. It doesn't out-and-out suck but it's not very memorable either. Lightning Strikes Again was way better.

 

That's about how I feel about it. Nothing memorable except "Empire". Is this supposed to be Dokken's last studio disc?? If so, out with a thud.

[heaven&hell]

I've actually enjoyed Broken Bones and really like every tune except "Waterfall".

[Geoff]

I've had Broken Bones since the week it was released, I've listened to it at least once a week since then, and to this day the only song that sticks in my head is "Empire." The rest sounds fine while it's playing but it leaves no impression once it's over. It doesn't out-and-out suck but it's not very memorable either. Lightning Strikes Again was way better.

 

That's about how I feel about it. Nothing memorable except "Empire". Is this supposed to be Dokken's last studio disc?? If so, out with a thud.

 

Same here, dudes... because it's the only uptempo song. The rest is all the same slow tempo and could basically be mistaken for one long, bad song.

[Glen]

I've had Broken Bones since the week it was released, I've listened to it at least once a week since then, and to this day the only song that sticks in my head is "Empire." The rest sounds fine while it's playing but it leaves no impression once it's over. It doesn't out-and-out suck but it's not very memorable either. Lightning Strikes Again was way better.

 

That's about how I feel about it. Nothing memorable except "Empire". Is this supposed to be Dokken's last studio disc?? If so, out with a thud.

 

Same here, dudes... because it's the only uptempo song. The rest is all the same slow tempo and could basically be mistaken for one long, bad song.

 

Backed I really liked Empire when I first heard it and had high hopes but the rest was just dreary.