With the benefit of hindsight 1990 was probably not the best year to strike out on your own, but having endured the tensions prevalent in working with Don Dokken – cooking up hair metal classics Breaking The Chains, Tooth And Nail, Under Lock And Key and Back For The Attack – axe whizz George Lynch made the inevitable move to go solo and surrounded himself with the requisite talent to make his opening salvo count.
With former Dokken drummer Mick Brown, ace bassist Anthony Esposito and ambitious but unknown vocalist Oni Logan on board, Wicked Sensation was a supremely confident calling card, a bravura showcase of tight songwriting and satisfyingly complex arrangements compared to the established Dokken template. There were plenty of flash and thrash guitar pyrotechnics on offer, but the feel was looser and bluesier.
From the opening title track to closer Street Fightin’ Man the album was consistent, even if song titles such as River Of Love, Hell Child and All I Want didn’t signal the breaking of any major new ground. Still considered Lynch Mob’s best album, it didn’t do well enough to make the break from Dokken permanent, but it nevertheless stands up as one US rock’s most notable landmarks before the grunge bombshell hit.
