Review: Put Your Shoulder to The Wheel by Nauvoo

Are you ready for serrated gashes, abrasive exertion and brutal bites at your soul? Nauvoo ride it to the hilt with their culmination of sensitized noise and magnified emotion. In the classical tradition of stark dirge and incinerating surrealist anguish, this lil’ EP conveys the beauty of being in pure hell, as if inhaling ulcerating pain while lying on a bed of nails. No shit, this stuff is completely compelling. Nauvoo’s instrumentals keep you barely balancing on a precarious ledge, all the while rummaging around your entrails. For example, “Move slowly alive/ I’ll fall with you/ Crawl down my throat/ I’ll swallow you,” are some of the phrases sure to cause core seizures. Personally, that’s a welcome undertaking by the band and/or listener. Alas, though it may be bold, these are angst-impassioned pieces. Thus, do beware of the piercing depths of Nauvoo.–Lars

Read more SLUG 1989 Archives:
New Band Spotlight: Wonder Crash
fIREHOSE: Best of the Show 1989