Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Dokken - Back for the Attack (1987)

Nostalgia plays a big part in me choosing to even write a review about this record.  Back for the Attack being the first Dokken album I owned as a teenager, it was always one that stuck in my head from those heady days of sitting in my bedroom listening to a limited selection of vinyl night after night.  I don't recall loving it any point, in fact I had heard the song 'It's Not Love' on TV and then on my next excursion into town with some cash in my pocket I came away with this record even though the song wasn't on it, believing that all Dokken songs must have been of the same quality.  They aren't.

It is not that the record is bad, just a bit dull.  There's no rip roaring anthem here although the majority of the songs do stick in my head and I can hear them from reading the titles alone, they just sort of rumble along like some mental background music.  Arguably, 'Heaven Sent', 'Stop Fighting Love' and album opener 'Kiss of Death' fulfil this anthem requirement but they are just a bit "meh" to really make you want to play them on their own.

All of the guitar wankery you would expect is there, especially on "Mr. Scary" which gives Lynch an opportunity to show off for a few minutes.  It still never really gets elevated to any sense of wonder to make you want to revisit it.

The record still made a respectable 13th on the Billboard 200 back in 1987 and all 3 singles made entry into the top 40 of Mainstream Rock USA so more than a few people thought it was solid enough a release.