Album Review – Brandon Flowers – “Thrasher”

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Country (#500) and Country Rock (#560) on the Country DDS.

In an era when so many of the most creative and critically-acclaimed artists in country music are off making disco records or collaborating with producers who are tasked with “putting the drugs on” recordings, leave it to a guy from outside of the genre to make one of the most compelling and creatively expansive records of the entire year. Brandon Flowers is his name, and though the rest of the world knows him as the frontman for the new wave rock and roll band The Killers, he might have just accidentally hauled off and made an Album of the Year contender in country, with perhaps a couple of Song of the Year candidates as well.

You can’t expect Thrasher to wow you with pure countrified honky tonk gold, because it won’t. And if this is what Brandon Flowers had set out to accomplish with a Southern affectation to his voice, this album would not be nearly as cool since it wouldn’t be authentic to the rural Utah native. Instead, he made his version of a country record, which is still pretty damn country, and country enough for most fans within the country genre.

If Brandon Flowers was going to make a country album, he also wasn’t going to cut corners. He recorded the album in Nashville with A-list session musicians including Hall of Fame harmonica player Charlie McCoy, pedal steel player Bruce Bouton, David Rawlings on guitar, along with folks like Laur Joamets and Jeremy Fetzer on guitar, and Margo Price on harmony vocals.

But what really makes Thrasher a towering work of country music separating itself from the herd is the songwriting, which is really what separates the country genre from so many others. It’s the storytelling, the nostalgic recollection, and the allegories woven in between it all that make the album so superior and fresh feeling.

At the age of 45, and after seven records from The Killers and a two previous solo ones to boot, you might expect Brandon Flowers to not have a lot of words left in the tank. Yet by making a record in the country genre, it allowed Brandon Flowers the ability to access portions of his brain and personal history previously untapped, even though the last album from The Killers, Pressure Machine, was also inspired in part by Brandon’s childhood.


If you’ve ever been away from your hometown for too long, or haven’t driven by the house you grew up in or the first school you want to for a while, you know the swell of emotions these things can stir when you revisit them, not just from the memories tied to these places, but the way it makes you reminisce on your life, all the decisions you’ve made, all the mistakes and victories, while your brain assesses the results of the original dreams you carried into the world. It’s this emotionally-rich environment that Brandon Flowers captures in Thrasher, while allowing it to well up in the audience too.

Thrasher doesn’t come without faults though, and this is what holds it back from a perfect grade. The distressed signals that Flowers and producers Jonathan Rado and Shawn Everett choose for certain tracks—especially on the vocals—don’t exactly imbue the experience with the authenticity they perhaps hoped for, and instead give this album a lack of clarity and presence, which is especially harmful in spots because understanding the words is so essential.

Some have also criticized the album for not being “country enough,” while others have said that the second half of the album feels like it fades. Granted, the ninth track “In A Heartbeat” is perhaps the weakest of the album, and “An American Dream” takes some time to reveal its full brilliance. But the heart of this record comprised of the songs “Tiger’s Blood,” “Plans,” “Paradise,” “Miss America,” and “Angel,” are all so stellar—hitting both a carnal level of appeal along with a master level of songcraft—you just can’t trifle with the power and potency this album contains, even with a couple of weaker moments and some questionable production decisions.

Rolling Stone pretty much panned Thrasher (2 1/2 of 5 stars), which should verify to you just how good it is. And who gives a shit if Brandon Flowers isn’t even originally a country artist? He wrote all these songs by himself to a Jason Isbell-level of brilliance, while bringing us all back to his small hometown of Nephi, Utah (pop. 6,500), allowing us to feel the stirring emotion of youth and home, and evoking emotions both comforting and troubling in an immersive, full-bodied musical experience.

8.8/10

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Stream/Purchase Thrasher

Song Reviews:


1. Does It Ever Cross Your Mind?

Brandon Flowers starts you off with a two-tone Outlaw country song. But just like many of the biggest songs of the Outlaw era and the Waylon Jennings catalog, “Does It Ever Cross Your Mind?” is actually a love song, just one with a little bit of expansive wonder at the nature of time and place. This is a really good song to get you warmed up for what Flowers has in store, even if the filmy nature of the vocal signal is a little off-putting. Hey, parts of “Mr. Brightside” sounded like it was sung through a busted mic too.

2. One Of Us

This is a fine song and fits with the theme of the record. But ultimately, it’s bested by so many other tracks on the album, it’s hard to single out as a favorite.

3. Tiger’s Blood

“Tiger’s Blood” is an excellent song reminiscent of the best of vintage Springsteen in the way that Brandon Flowers uses vibrant imagery to awaken the mind’s eye to the setting and moments he wants to evoke. This is no cheap and easy use of nostalgia. Flowers turns a 4-minute moment into a coming-of-age epic. It’s fair to say this is Heartland rock and not country. But it’s most certainly country-adjacent in its approach.


4. Plans

If you’re looking for the moment that Brandon Flowers puts his personal stamp on by God country music, this is the moment. “Plans” is very reminiscent of Glen Campbell and the Countrypolitan era, and an exquisitely-crafted track from the writing, to the arrangements and production, to all of the performances. And unlike other moments on Thrasher, the music feels very vibrant and present, including the vocals. This is not the best-written song on the album (those are coming), but it’s most definitely the best sounding, with a wide-ranging appeal.


5. Paradise

Though on the surface this might come across as just a simple song about a valet parking attendant, Flowers figures out how to weave deeper lessons and wisdom about life into it. “Paradise” is also helped along by how the verse melody is just familiar enough with Merle Haggard’s “Ramblin’ Fever” to feel familiar, but obviously not a direct copy. The backup singers on the song sound superfulous, but overall the song is hard to hate.

6. Miss America

The writing here by Brandon Flowers is some of the best you will find anywhere, all genre. Told from a female perspective, Flowers wraps so many messages and important perspectives into what is ultimately a story song that feels so true to the American experience, it hurts. It’s not just the greater message of the song, but the little details, like the way he references a scene in the movie Footloose, but pauses just so slightly before delivering the payoff to keep you hanging on his every word. This song is songwriting brilliance.


7. Angel

After Flowers wows you with “Miss America,” he doubles down with “Angel,” once again using an involved storyline to touch on much broader themes and lessons about the American experience. And once again, is the specific details of the story itself and Brandon’s wordplay that keep you so riveted.

Angel sat with the .45 under the seat
Sirens and lights rose like a ghost from the street
And when they slowed on the shoulder
Angel prayed with his feet

Unless Jason Isbell or Chris Knight release an album in 2026, you might be hard pressed to find two band-to-back songs that punch like “Miss America” and “Angel.”


8. The Red Ground

This song is ultimately better than its rather cliché “south of the border” opening. It could start at the 35-second mark and be better off for it. Otherwise, the song seems to be about Brandon Flowers feeling like he’s been away from his hometown for too long, and wanting to return to feel more grounded in life. But the music doesn’t exactly match the setting, and the story doesn’t exactly develop like in the earlier songs on the album.

9. In A Heartbeat

“In A Heartbeat” just doesn’t really make a very good case for itself, and seems to struggle in its effort to tell a reminiscent love story with an epic perspective over an extended period of time. Unlike most all the other songs on Thrasher, it doesn’t have those cutting insights or specific details that suck you into the story and keep you there. This isn’t as much a bad song as the fact that Flowers sets such a high bar with the rest of them that “Heartbeat” feels like just a song instead of a “moment.”

10. An American Dream

Similar to “The Red Ground,” this song is beset by a rather meaningless intro. But unlike “The Red Ground” and “In A Heartbeat,” those who stick through the first 38 seconds, they’re rewarded with a magical musical journey untethered from reality, but full of those fine details that keep you engrossed line after line. “An American Dream” might be a sleeper, but it also might be one of the best songs on the album.


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