HELL TO PAY
You know, we've been tooling on the DOKKEN press releases
pretty ruthlessly around here, and I'll be the first to admit that most of those toolings were totally justified. I mean, when your press release is worded in such a manner that it misleads people to think you've been touring with bands like STAIND, SEVENDUST, and TRAPT, when in reality all you did was share a stage with them during
one radio station event, well fellas... you need a thumping.
That being said, all of the hype in the band's press release about
Hell To Pay being a return to the band's roots... is, for the most part, true. Allow me to explain myself.
Dokken currently consists of Don Dokken, drummer Mick Brown, bassist Barry Sparks, and guitarist Jon Levin, so if the band is going to make a 'return to its musical roots', it's going to be about half of what they could really do...because only half of the band is original members now. Without George Lynch playing, there's a certain 'oomph' that doesn't show through the riffs, and while Levin is good...he's not Lynch. Jeff Pilson's voice is missed on the harmonies, but that's not crucial. If you're a Dokken fan,
Hell To Pay will give you enough of a fix of that signature sound to keep you in black T-shirts and fringe leather for another year.
Don's voice obviously is not what it once was, so there's not a whole lot of screaming on this disc. I'm really into "Care For You", and I think the band likes it to, because they put it on the disc twice (there's an acoustic version at the end). "Prozac Nation" and "Don't Bring Me Down" are unmistakably Dokken-ish as well.
I'll tell you what I don't like...at all... and that's the cover art and the title.
Hell To Pay leaves the door wide open for hairpiece jokes, and the artwork looks like it was done by a thirteen year-old. I get it. Shake hands with the devil = Hell To Pay. Blech. Sorry. Not digging it.
Like I mentioned earlier, if you're a Dokken fan, you'll dig it. All of the main ingredients are there; strong riffs, memorable hooks, and a few songs that make you realize there's a reason they're still around.
