Thrasher Shriver's eponymous debut album is polished but impassioned country-rock that touches on honky tonk, barroom weepers and modern country barn-burners. Although the band sometimes suffers from trying to hard to avoid Nashville cliches, resulting in underdeveloped songs, they manage to create a classy, rootsy sound that gives their best songs a bracing directness that cuts quite deeply. Moments like "Goin' Goin' Gone" and "All the King's Horses" suggest that the band will be able to develop into something quite special, given just a little more time. ~ Thom Owens