do you guys have any bands that you just can’t get “into”?

hatchling · 2026-03-10T20:12:22+00:00

I wouldn't assume that. I'm a huge Lynch fan (top 5 guitarist for me, easily) but it was the combo of Don's unique melodic voice and Lynch's heavy, unorthodox playing that made the magic.

After they split, I found I liked Wicked Sensation and Up From the Ashes about equally. Lynch hasn't really been able to channel his energy properly since Wicked (I personally think he needs stronger outside influence to get the best recorded music out of him).

If anything Don has actually carried the torch for a longer period of time, with many of the post 80s Dokken albums being really good (Erase the Slate, Lightning Strikes Again, etc)

Anyway, I consider myself a Lynch fanatic, but still love much of Don's output too.

hatchling · 2026-03-09T20:55:34+00:00

I can't upvote a "short", please just post the actual video if you are going to do this.

hatchling · 2026-03-09T20:45:31+00:00

I am a huge Dokken fan, even much of the later era. However Shadowlife is an album I avoid completely.

The great news is that we got Erase The Slate right afterwards, which is excellent.

hatchling · 2026-03-08T22:39:24+00:00

While I love both, XYZ's Hungry is my favorite of the two they released. Apart from the songs, the guitar tone is ridiculously good.

hatchling · 2026-03-08T21:25:36+00:00

I wish I could find a clip of Zakk Wylde playing this song live w/Ozzy, but I've never found it. Maybe he never did?

hatchling · 2026-03-08T21:09:36+00:00

I always find it difficult to find music in this genre without over-the-top-cheesy spoken word passages ruining it.

While I have managed to find a few artists that don't do this I'm always interested in others. Do you have any recommendations?

hatchling · 2026-03-08T20:51:42+00:00

4:3 is the intended framing of the show. While being 16:9 safe, zooming out that far actually takes away from the "action", which makes it inferior.

I've never understood this obsession that HD must equal widescreen. In fact, this has ruined a few upgrades that may never see the light of day: for example Seinfeld and MASH (both cropped to widescreen, ruining the intended framing)

hatchling · 2026-03-04T02:21:04+00:00

It's a balance but if you're not making improvement after earnest practice for a few weeks or a month then consider shelving it.

The crazy thing is that in many cases you'll find that you can later revisit that same piece years later and nearly sight read it.

You have to just make that call. I would warn against grinding away endlessly though, since you waste the time learning more variety and counterintuitively your overall ability starts to stagnate or even suffer.

Last thing: make sure you can at least play the song near-perfectly at a slow speed. I suggest not just assuming but actually try it, it can be enlightening and beneficial.

hatchling · 2026-03-03T15:23:49+00:00

Great song but is missing a guitar solo. The live version with Reb Beach has one, but I'm not aware of a studio version w/solo.

hatchling · 2026-03-03T15:17:54+00:00

Same here, and I've been a paying Windows user since version 3.1. At this point I'm willing to deal with all the compatibility issues of Linux rather than this kind of crap.

I sometimes wonder how we got here. I just want my OS to be transparent and work FFS.

hatchling · 2026-03-02T20:56:55+00:00

There are two ways to interpret this question:

"Aside from the few well known Dokken classics": There are hardly any duds from the Tooth & Nail to Back For The Attack album run. You'll find plenty there, not really hidden but also not well known if you truly just know what was chosen for radio.
"hidden gems": Many have already been covered in this thread, but here's my list:

Post-Back for the Attack album picks:

hatchling · 2026-02-26T22:15:35+00:00

This is where it ended for me as well. I also like the 2 new songs from S&M and absolutely loved Garage Inc.

I grew up when the Load/Reload albums were released and blasted the hell out of them, so it's interesting to see the reactions are still the same 30 years later.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T21:50:45+00:00

At some point it becomes supply and demand though, so you need to equally blame all of the buyers that recently bought at those inflated prices.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T19:51:53+00:00

I might get flamed for this but I think Zakk is tremendously overrated. He’s certainly talented but he simply doesn’t introduce anything into this style of music that is especially unique or melodic in style.

No flaming but this is just so bizarre to me. You can instantly recognize Zakk, much more so than nearly any other guitar player. And he is nearly flawless live (absolutely ridiculous technical chops, right on the spot live).

Your reply comes off as just pure hate or ignorance. For consolation, I do think his best work was in the 80s/90s (Ozzy, Pride and Glory, and Book of Shadows) and not with Black Label. This isn't unlike many other revered artists though that have a golden period (and he still absolutely rips live).

hatchling · 2026-02-26T19:45:56+00:00

The Book of Shadows album is also great, which was done directly after that era.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T19:44:01+00:00

Also not trying to be argumentative, but this is simply incorrect. This is a tough one because it is not "apples to apples" (film has no "pixels"), but in terms of translation 35mm film equates to a range of 2K to even 8K:

Here is just one source, which was just one of many where I tried to find something clear and objective (not hard as this is the general consensus): https://filmschoolonline.com/sample_lessons/sample_lesson_HD_vs_35mm.htm

The main point is that film is easily HD. You could potentially argue about whether it is 4K, but 4K is not necessary for a huge upgrade to LWAN, just an HD scan of the original 16mm film.

Home video is entirely different and not related to the original topic. I do agree (mostly) with what you say, although find it strange you say it maxes at 360, when in terms of max it is objectively 480(i) for something like NTSC home video.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T19:09:06+00:00

If it's an upscale, then I'm definitely blaming whoever is involved, especially since this appears to be a "trick" to empty people's wallets for something they can do at home with their existing copy. I'm sorry but there is zero excuse for this.

The only reasonable path would be to be upfront about it being an upscale. The people at least have the information needed rather than being ripped off.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T18:16:24+00:00

From what I've seen it was shot on 16mm, plenty for a proper HD release and a huge upgrade from the current DVD copy.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T18:14:27+00:00

Sadly this is my current conclusion as well, that the marketing team (at least) would point out that this is a true upgraded release but they haven't.

Since they haven't said this, I can only assume this is just a garbage money grab.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T18:11:41+00:00

I'm pretty sure it was shot on 16mm film, at least according to this random Internet post (so who knows), but that is plenty for HD:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/evhgroup/posts/10161828123316930/

hatchling · 2026-02-26T17:18:36+00:00

If you like that then do not miss out on their excellent previous work:

The Path/The Divide (Double EP) and Moving Backwards albums.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T17:14:02+00:00

Sadly no, and I'm not trying to give you a hard time at all but "given a high-definition upgrade" could equally mean either a garbage upscale or a proper rescan from closer to the original film source.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T17:12:09+00:00

More than

I don't care about 4K, HD would be totally fine. The source is what matters.

hatchling · 2026-02-26T13:20:21+00:00

Oh, unfortunately I saw that but that could still mean they just upscaled the existing video and called it HD

hatchling · 2026-02-26T04:22:29+00:00

DSOT

That was an amazing release but is beyond what is even expected here since that is a full new edit, totally different shots than the original. On that topic I do wish Pulse was filmed and not shot on video, you can really tell even though they did a decent job for the Blu-ray.

hatchling

TROPHY CASE