* * * * Great Balls of Fire * * * Good Vibrations * * Maybe Baby * Running on Empty : : Crunch Time for Dokken

By JOHN VOLAND

Nov. 29, 1987 12 AM PT

* * 1/2 “BACK FOR THE ATTACK.” Dokken. Elektra. This quasi-lyrical metal band’s been pumping it out consistently for seven years now, and it’s crunch time again for singer Don Dokken and his playmates, who give us about 63 minutes’ (!) worth of buzz-saw rock within the supposedly antiquated vinyl grooves, and it all sounds just fine.

Sounds , that is, because some of the songwriting has that studio-rush, isn’t-this-awesome hastiness about it that the band was thought to have abandoned in favor of a more studied (read: commercial) approach on last year’s “Under Lock and Key.” More of the band’s salad-days metallic grind is back, but so are the bonehead lyrics and unimaginative tunes.

For the record:

12:00 a.m. Dec. 6, 1987 Imperfections
Los Angeles Times Sunday December 6, 1987 Home Edition Calendar Page 115 Calendar Desk 1 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
Randall J. Whittle of Los Angeles and Pritish Vora of Mission Viejo both wrote in to correct John Voland for mistakenly referring to a Dokken tune as “Mr. Nasty” instead of its proper name, “Mr. Scary.”

Further, guitarist George Lynch--once one of the genre’s true guitar heroes--appears out of sorts after Dokken’s venture into Big Radio Dreams. Lynch is becoming more obsessed with effects and tricks than really seems wise for a die-hard metallurgist.

Still, given the musical generosity on “Back for the Attack,” there had to be a few standout tracks, and there are: the blistering opener, “Kiss of Death”; the standout rhythm-section work and general creepiness on “Mr. Nasty”; Dokken’s vocals on “Lost Behind the Wall” and “Cry of the Gypsy”; and Lynch’s no-nonsense slash guitar on “Dream Warriors.”

OK, so the attack is back. But will it stick around this time?