Review of: Dokken – Shadowlife (1997)

Dokken, a name resonating with '80s rock. The anti-cool kids at the musical table, serving up anthems in leather and loud guitars. The vibes of my early music listening experiences. Dokken's the kind of band that roared into the scene, belting out melodic metal and hair-flipping jams through the 1980’s. For me, I discovered them in 1987 after seeing “A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3 Dream Warriors.” Dokken broke up, the first time, after the 1988 Monsters of Rock tour. This band, probably known for just as much dysfunction a band can have than hits and records the band created in all its incarnations. This Blog right here and now focuses on the departure from their classic sound and later lineup in the later 1990s. This was the first hint the old Dokken would never be the same, but rather an evolving thing moving forward. Which is neither bad nor good. It is whatever one needs it to be. If you love the Dokken sound, or maybe you only like the classic sound and never liked the 90s and early 2000s run. Perhaps you discovered Dokken at a fair or a festival and love it all. Perhaps you love the later material from the band. There is so much to choose from. Almost like Black Sabbath with how many different eras and different types of sound for the band.

Dokken released 'Shadowlife' on April 15^th, 1997. This was about two and a half months before my High School graduation. I was absolutely going through some tough mental shit that year. That is another story. Music for me, SAVED me that year for sure. I am amazed I never got serious about music during this time. The writing was all over the wall there but I was so busy working and being miserable I just wanted to listen and escape. I was a major fan of Dokken’s 1995 comeback record “Dysfunctional.” I really loved that record and I still do. They later released a live acoustic-style record playing reincarnations of their classic material with a few choice favorites from ‘Dysfunctional’ and an instrumental from George Lynch’s last solo record. ‘Shadowlife’ marked a departure from their classic sound and received mixed reviews upon its release. These mixed reviews are largely negative or passively positive, giving the band credit for doing something experimental. People who love Dokken, like me, will defend ‘Shadowlife’ up and down but even I, concede, this is a bad record, sonically. However, that does not mean I do not like the record, all-round. I absolutely do. I just recognize that I have listened to this album so many times over the years, out of all the newer Dokken material out there, this one stays with me. The songs I like on it, I really like and the album always reminds me what that year was like for me. However, I do have issues with the album and how it sounds.

Tensions within the band were beginning to resurface. Dokken ‘Shadowlfe’ would be recording this record without long time engineer/producer for the band’s music, Michael Wagener. There was a decision by Lynch, Pilson and Brown to explore a new musical direction on this record. For 'Shadowlife' the decision to go with Kelly Gray as the sound engineer/producer for the album. Kelly had some early success producing Candlebox and Pride & Glory. A shift towards a more 90s alternative and grunge influence, which deviated from the melodic hard rock style that had defined Dokken's success and the more heavier more progressive style they demonstrated on the ‘Dysfunctional’ album only eighteen months prior.

George was highly experimental in the 90s. Allegedly influenced by his interest in bands like Monster Magnet and Tool. I will argue this a little bit. If you go back through Monster Magnet’s first three records, all released from 1993-1998 there are not a whole lot of similarities of what they were doing at the time and how Lynch plays. I know some of that is subjective, but some of it isn’t either. The title track “Superjudge,” one of the more well-known songs on Monster Magnet’s first record, by the same name, sounds nothing like Dokken or Lynch Mob. It’s a completely different style of Hard Rock. Sure, you can throw them in with Alternative Metal or Alt-Rock. What you shouldn’t do is say Dokken, Lynch Mob have songs in common, sonically, with Monster Magnet or Tool! Even Candlebox, the producer’s other works that had a huge single on the radio, have little to nothing in common with Dokken and Lynch Mob. So I am confused as to how that influenced Lynch to play what he played and how it was tuned on the ‘Shadowlife’ record? Even Tool, is a stretch. I’d say Lynch tries to imitate the style, but I always felt he is sounding great when he is playing heavy stuff and not so much the ambient stuff. I am just not going to swallow that at face value. The departure from Dokken's signature sound was met with criticism from fans and the music industry in general. The album struggled commercially, selling significantly fewer copies compared to their previous works.

 “To put it into perspective, ‘Dysfunctional’ sold 450,000 copies after its cycle, when we released ‘Shadowlife’ it sold 50,000 copies.” – Don Dokken

The reception of 'Shadowlife' contributed to the already strained relationships among band members, and the subsequent tour faced challenges. Lynch was out halfway through the tour. I know ‘Shadowlife’ gets a lot of hate. I feel its aged way better than it did when it first came out. I was probably the only real Dokken fan in all my school. Mind you we were a 5A school at the time. Creed's "My Own Prison" (band’s self-release CD/Tape) were starting to make the rounds. Tool was FK'n huge that year. No Doubt, Tonic, Bush, Pantera, Type O Negative, Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, Rollins Band. Rush had a new record that was doing well at the time. Queensryche had a new record that was getting heavy radio play. Even Motley Crue's ‘Generation Swine’ was getting air play. So it wasn't that far a stretch for Dokken to release an album during this time. When ‘Dysfunctional’ came out I was blown away by it. It was the perfect modernized-Dokken record for my 15-year-old-ass... I still feel this is the best record as far as judging the band on Metal/Hard Rock standards of being Heavy, produced really well, with highlighting a lot of what the band did well with their originals. ‘Dysfunctional,’ for me, was a Dokken record for grownups that kids/teens that followed the band during the first run of Dokken records were released, listened to. Sonically, Dokken was going in a great direction. ‘Dysfunctional’ was heavy, melodic and groovy. It was a great sound for hard rock in 1995. 1997 rolls around and all hell breaks loose.

 ‘Shadowlife’ Track by track. I implore you to listen for yourselves. Especially if you know the band’s signature style and sound.

“Puppet on A String”
https://youtu.be/UG0PM1RgOnA?si=xIiJhF4TUl_ZO_lu

This used to be rough for me. It isn’t exactly knocking you out of the park here. Especially where we left with the band with “What Price.” This song was hard to like at first. It did grow on me over the years. There are a few live versions of this floating around on YouTube that gives a better context on what this song is supposed to sound like. This is where I feel having a non-melodic rock producer hurt this song and the record overall. It’s got some solid grooves to this that sound much heavier live than the studio cut of this song. On the studio version Dokken’s vocals are scaled way back and have some pretty questionable vocal filters/effects on it. In the live version it sounds more Dokken-esh. Instead of making this song and alt-rock song they should have made it a heavier/darker song. They still could have pulled off a more alternative sound and it still be heavy and not shrouded in ambient guitar effects, which really destroy a lot of these songs from the record. If they just would have played them straight, like a hard rock band should, just be what you are and beef everything up. Instead we get this and this isn’t bad. Like I said, it has grown on me, but it still sounds like Dokken trying to be an alt-rock band not a hard rock or melodic metal band.

 “Cracks in the Ground”
https://youtu.be/akzY-2M3C6U?si=f2gIvK-nbxgLt12w

1996-1997 was what it was, but hard rock was still doing alright for itself. Metal was a thing. Some of the bands from the 1980s that were still active in the 1990s, were putting out pretty heavy records that were more related to metal than say 1980s hard or glam rock. It was like bands from the 80s were done with the makeup and the pop sound it came with for wearing all black and playing harder driven rock music. Not all bands did this. Some experimented due to the popularity of alternative/grunge music. Rock music in general was getting heavier and using more electronic aspects of music to replace guitar as the main focus of a song. Guitar solos were either much much shorter or replaced altogether with groovy power chords. Some bands just couldn’t do this at a level where the fans could understand what was happening.

“Cracks in the Ground” largely does this with all its ambience from George Lynch. While the song itself is quite good, I think if this song came out now people would notice it more. What hurts this song is the weird guitar effects in the background that doesn’t seem to end. The chugs sounded good, when they there, and needed more of it. Jeff Pilson’s bass sounds great on this song particularly and has a good sound across the entire record.

 “Sky Beneath My Feet”
https://youtu.be/L6UtkisAaj8?si=5SDqDr6Y_1aeBwMc

This song, while I like, really needed some heavy chugs on this one. The guitar tones here is where this song gets drowned out. There are a few cues on how this song sounds and reflects how the whole record sounds. Lynch’s guitar tones for the songs and the drowning out of Don Dokken’s vocals. Jeff Pilson’s bass sounds thick all the way through the record, but the off-sound of Don and George are also evident throughout the album.

 “Until I Know”
https://youtu.be/1LTJnBh_sRI?si=2SEpKuNPOzdD3ebl

I do like this song, but it is weird, even for Dokken. It’s like an outtake turned song. The ambience in particular here ruins the song. It would have been better served as a purely acoustic song. Played that way the song would have sounded a whole lot better and like a real rock song. Lynch’s constant use of these effects on his playing on this record in combination with how Jeff sounds on bass and the drums just makes the song feel like a filler-song that is a filler song.

 “Hello”
https://youtu.be/TWCaw7gzQ8U?si=6OznMaFqN3XC1dFF

Another song where they tried to be an ALT-Grunge band. This song doesn't work for me. To me, it sounds like Jeff is EQ’d for metal. Mick for grunge, Lynch in whatever sound he feels he is in and the muted down of Don’s vocals. All that together is where “the weird sound” comes from. Lynch really needed the power chords or the tones he brought on Lynch Mob’s first record, ‘Wicked Sensation’ here. He has to constantly put ambience in his stuff. It works sometimes, but a lot of times it’s just distracting and that is down the board with Lynch's playing and style over the decades. I would never hire Lynch to get his take on DJENT, Thrash or Thall in today’s metal culture. Great soloist and has on Post-90s Lynch Mob records; played a grittier, darker, heavy guitars that have more in common with Monster Magnet and Tool now than this did for the time period of ‘Shadowlife’. This song would make me laugh due to it being an inside joke at the time with one of my little brothers. There was an ad on TV going around about alcoholism where a drunken father would yell at his little son because he broke a glass trying to get himself some water due to his dad being too much of a drunk to take care of his son! The dad yells at the kid, appears threatening, and the kid whimpers away in fear saying; “all I wanted was a drink of water…” There is a line in the song, used twice and two other times in a variance; “All I need is just a drink of water.” My brother and I still have an odd sense of humor with things like this. When talking about scary things, he will just bust out with the line from “Aliens;” ‘They mostly come at night... Mostly.’ You can say that about badly recorded records too…

 “Convenience Store Messiah”
https://youtu.be/AURJtWpqTBQ?si=lL9y1u9FDG9fH3jU

It’s a decent song. I loved the Dokken – “One Night Live,” where they did a live, mainly, acoustic record. I am not shocked they tried to do a song or two on ‘Shadowlife’ like that. Also I get heavy Beatles vibes from this song and on “One Night Live,” where they did a Beatles cover on that record, “Nowhere Man.”

 “I Feel”
https://youtu.be/W1xmVFpm0GI?si=YR7TcoAMFZegxfhR

Resembles “Hello” too much but the song is much better delivered here. One of the few rockier songs on the record. It’s how the guitars sound (again) that make me question this one. Lynch isn't all ambient on this one as much and just plays more straightforward. Still could use more chugs and thickness. Some of the guitar filters sound bad but one can say that across the whole record. The guitar tones on the record are very questionable here. It wasn't just all Smashing Pumpkins and Alice in Chains the entire decade. 1997 had a number of older bands with new records that were getting heavy radio play. The excuse bands from the 80s couldn’t write songs for the 90s is just bullshit. There is some of that happening during this time and it is easy to point to Dokken as part of this, but they were not the only 80s bands in the 90s that were flat lining here.

 “Here I Stand”
https://youtu.be/xvLEZKqZ3B0?si=5xJvQoFyvLkFYlj3

Jeff Pilson on vocals is fine for me. He can sing… We had already experienced War & Peace from Jeff. Those records are pretty good. This isn't weird outside the lack of heaviness of the guitars. We needed more from George on this one but it’s still a good song. Putting “I Feel” and “Here I Stand” back to back on the record I think helps to drive the record as a Rock record, but we needed more batches of songs like this. Probably the closest song on the record trying to achieve an alternative sound but still be a rock song. If they would have dropped all the bizarre choices like the drowning out of Don’s voice and all the guitar ambience, filters, and just did more songs like this –this album might have reflected what it was trying to do better.

 “Hard To Believe”
https://youtu.be/8KWw4oNGkQg?si=-s_hdUTIRIAfYGj8

This is a great ballad that never got a chance. I understand why many do not like this song. More of the same with the guitars. However, the darker tones help to drive this one. One of the few songs they let Don be Don more on and it works for me. I often sang this to myself when it came out. I was heavily depressed my senior year of High School. This song pretty much spoke to me that way... I still listen to this in my current "songs to be depressed to" playlist.

 “Sweet Life”
https://youtu.be/oC-N--QBFEA?si=mMv1v_Unvrl3AMxz

Ugh... Yeah... This song didn't really work for me either. It’s too much NOT DOKKEN here... As I said, I do not mind trying new things on a song here/there, but down the whole record, this sound doesn't work for the band. The song really needed heavier guitars here. While Lynch’s playing is quite good here, it is some of the tones that bust this song up for me. He could have kept what he did here and just add that layer of heaviness this song needed. It is just missing something. Ah, yes. It is missing Dokken…

 “Bitter Regret”
https://youtu.be/fsq14IbEr28?si=STLK0pOo1gN7aoBa

A great song... I have rediscovered this song lately and I still love this. It captures grown-up-DOKKEN very well... I am learning this song for a future “bust out a song for no reason out in public." For all the other reasons I love the acoustic material the band had put out up to this point. If “Until I Know” was done as a purely acoustic song this would have made the third acoustic song on the record and if you count “Hard to Believe” would have marked four ballad-style songs on a record that was supposed to match a more Monster Magnet and/or Tool vibe. This is why I argue that point of view so vigilantly. When I listen intently to these songs I do not hear this in the songs. This album seems to have so many hands in the cookie jar no one seemed to know what it was they were creating. I have stated this in and out all through this blog.

 “I Don't Mind”
https://youtu.be/WpTeXhmxlnY?si=R0sFkfAmbvyjHVZS

More of the same with the songs that ruin this record. “I Don’t Mind” is just a jumble. Just doesn’t sound like Dokken. Sounds like Dokken playing a song written by someone else, EQ’d by someone that doesn’t know how Dokken is supposed to sound, and that just sums the entire record for me.

 “Until I Know” (Reprise)
https://youtu.be/XXYimIklhBI?si=xLAOG-q9j6mPGW3w

Not only did we get “Until I Know” as an afterthought we get it twice here...  Just as bad the first time.

 “How Many Lives” – Japanese Bonus Track
(Could not find an official stream of the song)

Hey if you can find it, it’s worth a listen. It tries to be heavy with Lynch's playing; but it doesn't work. It’s a more DOKKEN-askew song and isn’t bad, but the guitar tones do a good job of ruining this where it could have been a rockier song. It tries too hard to be that grunge song that it isn’t. Would have made a better choice on the record than the “Until I Know” (Reprise) we got.

 “Deep Waters” – Japanese Bonus Track
(Could not find an official stream of the song)

This song should have been on the record. It wouldn’t have saved the record, but if Dokken wanted to take Dokken and morph them into an ALT-Grunge band, this song does a better job than any of the songs that tried to pull this sound off that made the record. I feel the guitar sound is sort of what they were going for, where the tones actually work for this song better than it did on the other songs where I say the guitars ruin it.

 “Damned” or “The Damned” – Unused song
https://youtu.be/fkt9Yt0J95o?si=yMoIGcjMx0VCM86R&t=2453

Do not have much on this song. I found it surfing YouTube looking for live versions of songs from ‘Shadowlife’ and this song came up. In the video it is referred to as “Damned,” but I found another text-based entry from a radio station using the name, “The Damned.” To my knowledge there is not a studio version of this song, at least not one on the Japanese import where “How Many Lives” and “Deep Waters” come from. I couldn’t even find any other recordings of it outside of this one. The song is good. I think it should have been recorded and been added to the record.

 ‘Shadowlife’ Conclusion:

All-in-all, it is still a bad record. It’s still the Worst DOKKEN record out there. However, there are some really good stuff on this album that shouldn’t be ignored or trashed. That if one takes these songs and puts them on other records they might have been bigger songs for the band. I really do feel that this album ages better, sonically, than a lot of the other Dokken materials as far as looking at Dokken from a more modern-day metal perspective. I do not know if there is or was a path to make ‘Shadowlife’ a great FK’n Dokken record. I have stated what I love and hate about the songs, their structure, how they sound, what Kelly Gray did to Don’s voice, to George Lynch’s playing and tuning choices on the record.

Every member has their own story why this record bombed and sure people can blame whomever. At the end of the day I feel like of all the opinions I have heard about this I feel like it is a case of tensions being there, always, and no one really had direct communications on how to address these tensions. It is possible ALL couldn’t do this anymore, it is also possible it is just Don and George not being able to be in a band together. Mick being along for the ride and Jeff being the best voice of reason that the band could muster. Sure they can do a few shows and cut a song in the studio but to write, record, tour a whole record as a band. I just do not think these guys can do it. When they were younger it was easier. Age, money, life, changes tend to be the great communicator. There really isn’t a right/wrong here. We all cannot go back in time, retrospectively fix the band, and tensions within the band.

I have always believed that the stories out there about the band, have been, exaggerated. Hell, probably by design. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if media sources still talk about Dokken then Dokken is still relevant. You look at all the bands that came, saw, broke up, resurfaced with new members, broke up again, changed their name, broke up, went to court over the use of the band name, have multiple versions of the band by past members, started a new band, to come full circle and still be doing it. Dokken is right up there. Sure, they won’t be G’N’R but not even G’N’R is G’N’R. So who cares? Yeah… Love them or hate them. Love ‘Shadowlife’ or hate it. Regardless of how disappointing ‘Shadowlife’ was to most, I’d still wear the CD out four or five times a week leading up to and well past my graduation. I listened to ‘Shadowlife’ and defended it all through the 2000s. I have always talk about this record in terms of what I love about it and what I also hate about it. Dokken was there all those times as a young person listening to five to eight year old cassette tapes, riding my bike in the trails of South West, FL in 1990. All I really have left to say is; Enjoy DOKKEN… I did, I still do… Enjoy DOKKEN…

Review of:
Dokken – Shadowlife (1997)
by Alan Smithee
2/21/2024
3,846 Words