Shrew – Self Titled

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · April 16, 2025

Shrew is a heavy psych/ hard rock/ proto-metal band from Portland, Oregon. The quartet consists of Max Siegfried on guitar, Selina Cleary on bass and lyrics, Rosie Peterson on vocals, and Shea Gegan on drums. They released their debut Self Titled album on February 7th 2025, on Glory Or Death Records. The album contains eight tracks at forty two minutes long.

The first track, “Spirals” is a masterpiece! The song crashes right in and the warm bass tones begins this hard rocking and psychedelic journey. The pounding and powerful rhythm section of bassist Selina Cleary and drummer Shea Gegan are really locked in and laying down such a heavy and grooving foundation. The fuzzed out and electrifying guitars are viscous and inviting. Shrew is a seventies sounding wrecking machine! “Spirals” cranks out the freakish acid blues rocking rhythms throughout. The beginning sequence is brilliant in its dynamic execution. Max Siegfried’s bluesy leads are laced with ample amounts of distortion and attitude. The band lay down some killer heavy accents with drum, guitar, and bass fills before the vocals even appear. Shrew have this organic rawness to their sound that extracts zest and vibrancy within their retro-tones and rhythms. Rosie Peterson makes her vocals soar on this track when they come in, around three plus minutes into the track. She has a great range and it really suits the rocking tones nicely. “Spirals” has an ebb and flow of jamming while utilizing heavy to softer transitions seamlessly in its eight and a half minute journey through the cosmos.

“Overtime” has a vintage rocking swagger happening. The song is an infectious ear worm that unloads fuzzed out rhythms, hard crashing percussion, and an alluring vocal delivery. It’s another fantastic track that dials in on the acid drooling fuzz and mind melting riffing. The third track is called “The Stray”. It’s another freestyle ride down the classic seventies hard rock highway. The hypnotic rhythms and enchanting vocals are in full effect and drift naturally throughout the song. “Disappearing Act” is an illustrative and illuminating piece that has a lot of depth and drive going on with the rhythm. The softer and lush singing in the verses builds up into a powerful and expressive chorus that expands adjacent with the freakout guitar wandering. It’s a blissful combination and a musical adventure indeed.

“The Juniper Tree” is the fifth track and it starts off hard rocking with slithering guitar riffing and pounding drum filled percussion. The rhythmic pacing is guided with Peterson’s voice as the song bounces along in all rocking directions for the first two minutes or so. Then the song undergoes a psychedelic transformation into dulcet tones and melodious sounds. The hypnotizing and sweet sounding vocals are combined exquisitely with beautifully ravishing and executed bluesy guitar leads from Siegfried, as the song fades out elegantly. Shrew are fantastic at crafting such dynamic and engaging songs from an ageless and classic era in music. The organic sound they derive is genuine and legitimate in their execution. The authenticity of these eight tracks is striking because of how well designed each of them are. “Memories Fade” and “Powder Room” further demonstrate this concept and both are excellent examples for the band’s masterful enlightenment of bona fide classics. It’s hard to believe that such undisputed music is being created still in the year of 2025.

The eighth and final track from Shrew is called “Untangled”. This six plus minute composition is stunning and artistic. It begins with clean guitars that distort nicely into a harmonious rhythm, backed by a divine vocal performance. The song drifts out just after the two minute mark and returns with some beautiful flute playing from Monica So with the guitars strumming along with them. The drums accent and then blends into a simple beat as the vocals settle in. The song stays fairly mellow with textures of subtle heaviness and raunchy distortion. The vocals float between both transitions heavenly and the lead guitars are electrifying in combination of everything happening. This Self Titled recording is brilliant and like great albums, it keeps getting better with every listen. The slow and percolating music builds up every time I hear it and I discover new nuances in these songs that makes me appreciate them that much more. The hard rock music of the early seventies is not dead, it is unmistakably alive and thriving in 2025, with a band like Shrew demonstrating its relevance, in full display.