Dokken's previous album Tooth and Nail is a classic from the time period and features a number of hit melodic metal songs. This album though finds Dokken headed in more of a mainstream direction. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing...what the hell am I saying? This is a far inferior album to their last one, and a lot of that reason is due to Dokken chasing the almighty dollar. Gone is the nail-spitting vibe of tracks like "Into the Fire" and the title track. Most of this album is the kind of fluff that was guaranteed MTV airplay in the time period. The photo of the band members on the cover does not really help things a lot either.
It is not all bad though. There are some impressive tracks, such as "Unchain the Night", "The Hunter" and "Lightnin' Strikes Again". While they mostly pale in comparison to the better songs from the previous album, at least they are a reasonable facsimile. Unfortunately there are far too many ballads on this release for it to come out all that well. About half of the tracks are power ballads.
I want to be clear that I do not hate this album, I just do not like it as much as Tooth and Nail. Most of the musical elements that have made Dokken one of the better bands of the style are present. Don Dokken has terrific vocal range and George Lynch is a fantastic guitar player. The album just could have been better. Unfortunately, things would not get any better for Dokken from here on out. Their best days were already behind them.
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