From the big upward-charging chords of "Destroyer" forward, it's pretty clear that Asteroid Shop bandleader Eric Brendo obviously loves his shoegaze-with-an-epic-bent, whether it was via early Verve, his fellow countrymen SIANspheric, or somewhere else entirely. It's a bit of an overdone field at this point, of course -- any worries that the future would somehow forget shoegaze have long been settled -- but if no boundaries are pushed, then the group's self-titled effort is still a bit of catnip for those so inclined. Brendo's voice, while typical of the withdrawn-into-the-mix approach, sometimes has a coolly powerful lift to it, able to make the anthems actually come across as anthems, at least on the chorus.