Dokken

Erase The Slate (CMC)
by Martin Popoff

One of many old bands learning to be content with who they be, Dokken has gone back to the big rawk of old, spitting nails with new razor man Reb Beach. There’s still a bit of Shadowlife‘s alt.groove.funk, but this one has guitars a’ plenty. Heck, they even make that crappy Nilsson/Three Dog Night song “One” sound both loud and tricky like a Soundgarden song. The production is inspiring and combative to be sure, guitars and drums bashing it out for supremacy, while the band figures out how to be general metal rockers straddling old hair. Dokken, the Beatles and new alt.Dokken. It’s a nice mix actually, because Reb ties it all together, despite the tones ranging from searing shred to acoustic balladry and all points in between. It’s a stadium royalty rock kind of spread that says, we’re a metal band first, and then we wander from there.