CD review THE END: machine ‘The End Machine’

(7/10) If ¾ of the iconic Dokken line-up of the ‘Under Lock and Key’ album reunites to work on a new album, the assumption of new Dokken-kind of longplayer isn’t totally off the radar. George Lynch, Jeff Pilson and Mick Brown, these are the three guys that regrouped to a project called ‘The End; machine’. The trio found with Warrant front man Robert Mason a great singer and it’s this four-piece band being responsible for a first album that comes through Frontiers Music.

Now, coming back to the theory of the guys releasing a potential Dokken-sound album, it’s a wrong assumption. Instead of focusing on a revival of Dokken’s heydays the quartet is more into hardrock that partly rooted in the 70’s and ‘80s.

The self-titled album comes with eleven songs of good old fashioned hardrock and I think the term ‘rock solid’ describes best what this album is about. The sound of the record reminds more of some Lynch Mob material than of melodic metal a la Dokken and it’s rockers like the uptempo ‘Ride It’ that are a real treat for your ears. It’s not that you hear music you never heard in such a way before, but it’s the musical abilities and experience these guys bring to the table, that makes ‘The End Machine’ to a grooving Hard Rock record. It’s a good and positive vibe that comes with it, making the upcoming spring season even more colorful.

Summary: The End: machine is no Dokken-clone. ‘The End: machine’ is a cool Hard Rock album. The End Machine rocks and The End: machine is timeless rock’n’roll that never dies.

(7/10)

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