Honestly, I can’t tell what the hell has happened with this band. Don was a great singer once and George Lynch was a riff-monster back in the day. Dokken have delivered some amazing hard rock diamonds throughout their career but something seems to be wrong nowadays.
 
The album starts nicely with the up-tempo “Empire” but then it falls into mediocrity and dullness. These mid-tempo tunes are just enough to make you fall asleep while listening to the album. Another thing that makes me wonder is the nerveless, non-punchy and grumpy production. What the heck has happened? Didn’t they listen to the final outcome at all? Are they happy with the sound indeed? What’s going so wrong here?
 
The album lacks a lot on the songwriting part… but even some nice melodies and refrains here and there are buried under the flat production. John Levin is trying to save the day here but he’s so alone. Don’s voice sounds a bit tiring and he’s so soulless when singing… oh boy, I thought someone has made him do it… it feels that he didn’t wanna do so and never enjoyed a single minute out of it. I’m a bit disappointed in this album… I do not know what’s wrong, but surely, the band must do something to fix its image before it’s too late. Perhaps, if Don and George could work together again… they could save the band from going down the gutter… I truly hope so…