Dawn

Dawn is the album on which Danger Danger, taking on new vocalist Paul Laine, stepped deep into darker guitar and an introspective mood. It is the third in release order. With Andy Timmons gone, Bruno Ravel handles all guitars and bass, building the frame with Steve West’s drums. Recorded in Vancouver, Canada, and New York, it came out in 1995 on Low Dice Records, the label Ravel and West founded themselves. As on “Wide Awake and Dead,” dark subject matter enters the lyrics; the strength of the choruses remains, but the songs wear a more grown-up expression. It reached the public in place of Cockroach, which Ted Poley’s lawsuit kept from release, and was at first sold partly through the band’s fan club, newsletter and website. Mirroring the shadow of the post-grunge years, its sound has been likened to Warrant’s Ultraphobic. True to its title, it feels like searching for a new outline out of the dark — a turning-point record that sounds the band’s melodic gifts at an entirely different temperature.