To be completely honest, reviewers tend not to get their hopes up upon receiving an unsolicited release from a local band.

The simple fact of the matter is that mathematically speaking, the quality of an album is directly proportional to the print resolution of the cover art multiplied by the distance from the band’s home place to the reviewer’s base camp.

Divide that by the distance between the band’s home place and their studio’s mailing address (assuming they have a studio recording and the studio has a mailing address).

All that math will give you some hodgepodge number to cite as you think of multiple reasons that the aforementioned local band hasn’t been signed yet, and probably never will be.

Drugmoney, on the other hand has been signed. And Drugmoney is one of those bands that you never wonder why.

Storming out of the gates with album opener “I Know,” the Asheville-ites lock down the attention span. Rarely is an album so instantly likeable, so suddenly headbob able.

Vocalist and guitarist Fisher Meehan takes the reigns with his distinctive projectile-like voice and a simple, but damned catchy lead guitar. The result is an Our Lady Peace style musical expenditure destined to have fingers reaching for the repeat button.

If only Meehan would show us his softer side. Enter “Oregon Song.” The slightly slower, solid rock groove serves Meehan up on a silver platter, like the rare, beautiful moments when Trent Reznor would actually (gasp) sing.

The same goes for “Anyway,” said to be Meehan’s throwback to his early R.E.M. influences. Think of it as a companion piece to Out of Time’s “Nightswimming” — quiet evenings spent driving around, watching the reflection of the streetlights slide along the metallic paint job, up the windshield and bury themselves in the backseat to hold hands with your best friends.

Keyboardist Tyler Ramsey and drummer Jamie Stirling snag a shining moment on “D.M.D.” Ramsey’s lazy, distorted riff bounces languidly along like the icon above the lyrics of a child’s sing-along video while Stirling provides a completely understated rhythm primarily reliant upon quietly persistent drumsticks against rims.

Where MTN CTY JNK falters is on “Wish Away” and “Trenton Makes.” Unfortunately “Wish Away,” reported to pay tribute to the Buzzcocks (who by the way, just released a new album on Merge Records), evokes mental images of a Muppet rock band with Cookie Monster, Animal, Fozzie and Floyd Pepper at the helm.

“Trenton Makes” is simply annoying and features an Offspring-like background chorus.

Then there’s the take it or leave it track “Beautiful,” which comes off a bit like Ugly Kid Joe or Kid Rock doing pseudo-country with more than a hair of mediocrity. Ditch the ballads boys.

Drugmoney has incredible potential for at least 15 minutes of fame on the popular music charts. The problem is that the group’s overarching sound is a blend of Seattle grunge rock and New York punk and in terms of being trendy, those sounds are dead.

But the fact that those sounds are dead is a travesty to music in and of itself. Woe to the ones catapulting Josh Groban (Billboard’s No. 1) and Jessica Simpson (No. 30) to fame.

Here’s to real rock reclaiming its rightful place in the world.