“Where I’ll Be” is the debut full-length from Winnipeg’s Dangercat, and I like it a lot.

The first thing that struck me was the energy that jumped out of my speakers and grabbed me by the eardrums. These ten tracks are delivered warm from the oven without the usual production frippery that can easily wreck a perfectly good punk album. This is not to say that this is a bad sounding record – it most certainly is not. Each of these guys know their way around their instruments, and it shows. The jangly telecaster creates a wall of bitchin’ guitar tone with plenty of room underneath for the bass to bounce around. The drums are hit hard and tastefully. There’s nothing flashy in any of the performances, but that’s exactly the way it should be. This is a goddamned punk band and they made a goddamned punk record.

Did I mention that jangly Telecaster? That tone is fucking brilliant, sounding not unlike the PERFECT tone on Dead To Me’s “A Day Without A War”.

On top of it all the vocals are delivered with some gravel, but it doesn’t sound affected like too many of the flannel-wearing beard-bands around today. You can’t fake the sincerity and energy these guys bring.

The ninth track is the obligatory acoustic song. It’s the only track that is lacking the sincerity and energy of the rest of the tracks, which is too bad, as it’s a good song that definitely would have worked better as an ensemble arrangement. Fortunately, they recover the fumble handily with “Go Wolves”, which finishes off the album with a hearty gang vocal, reminding the listener that this record does indeed rock. “Where I’ll Be” is a solid debut that will stay in my rotation for a while to come.

4/5 Stars

Stream the album here.