Performer Notes

Archers Of Loaf: Eric Bachmann (vocals, guitar); Matt Gentling (vocals, bass); Eric Johnson (guitar); Mark Price (drums).
Recorded at Kraptone Studios, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Personnel: Eric Bachmann (vocals, guitar); Matt Gentling (vocals); Eric Johnson (guitar); Mark Price (drums).
Audio Remasterer: Robert Weston III.
Liner Note Author: Robert Christgau.
Recording information: Kraptone Studios, Chapel Hill, NC.
Photographers: Brian Huskey; Viviane Oh; Craig Shook.
Raw, swirling, and remarkably brash, Archers of Loaf's debut, Icky Mettle, helped to establish the North Carolina band as a force to be reckoned with in the pantheon of '90s indie rock. With their layered, guitar-heavy approach and driving energy, the album feels like an artifact from an alternate time line where the Pixies decided to get more and more aggressive after Surfer Rosa. Though the band doesn't completely eschew the idea of harmony, they certainly take a more smash and grab approach to it, paving the road to sonic bliss with destroyed amps and shredded vocal chords. What makes this sound so compelling is the way it explores the full spectrum of guitar-centric rock, pulling together the blunt and abrasive with the thoughtful in the musical equivalent of a shotgun wedding with the bride and groom doing everything in their power to hold it together while the family is watching in uneasy silence. This tension is held up throughout the entire album as both sides of Archers of Loaf's dual nature fight for supremacy in a battle that would leave a permanent mark on the indie rock landscape. ~ Gregory Heaney

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.74) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]hey perfected the genre moves: bracing attack, two-guitar blurs of dissonance and beauty, [and] a sympathetic barker..."

Rolling Stone (p.75) - Ranked #10 in Rolling Stone's '10 Best Reissues Of 2011' -- "Remember alt-rock this way, and learn from it."

Spin (p.92) - "In retrospect, 1993's ICKY METTLE -- an album of boyish fits and noisy guitar flurries -- plays like the end of an era."

Entertainment Weekly (p.75) - "[A] holy grail of lovely, rumpled passion." -- Grade: A

Magnet (p.66) - "ICKY METTLE straddled the line between Pavement's brainy esoterica and Superchunk's guitar blitzkrieg."

Melody Maker (12/11/93, p.28) - "...North Carolina's Archers Of Loaf are the latest to join Pavement, Trumans Water and The Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 in the persuit of a deceptively haphazard, quite perfectly scrambled pop-logic...."

NME (Magazine) (10/30/93, p.28) - 7 - Very Good - "...a sturdy debut stacked with misfit fury and restless demons...."

Record Collector (magazine) (p.90) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Noisy yet melancholy, abrasive yet gentle, abstract yet incisive...full of musical and lyrical tensions that highlight the paradoxical and provocative stylings of this incredibly talented, original and influential band."

Uncut (magazine) (p.79) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Bachmann's Jagger-esque drawl perfectly matches the slacker-punk vibe of absurd, crowd-participation favourite 'Toast'..."

Album: Icky Mettle [Digipak]
#	Song Title		Time
	Disc 1
1)	Web in Front	More Info...	0:02
2)	Last Word	More Info...	0:03
3)	Wrong	More Info...	0:03
4)	You and Me	More Info...	0:03
5)	Might	More Info...	0:02
6)	Hate Paste	More Info...	0:02
7)	Fat	More Info...	0:01
8)	Plumb Line	More Info...	0:02
9)	Learo, You're a Hole	More Info...	0:04
10)	Sick File	More Info...	0:01
11)	Toast	More Info...	0:04
12)	Backwash	More Info...	0:03
13)	Slow Worm	More Info...	0:03
14)	Powerwalker	More Info...

Album: Icky Mettle [Digipak]
#	Song Title		Time
	Disc 1
1)	Web in Front	More Info...	0:02
2)	Last Word	More Info...	0:03
3)	Wrong	More Info...	0:03
4)	You and Me	More Info...	0:03
5)	Might	More Info...	0:02
6)	Hate Paste	More Info...	0:02
7)	Fat	More Info...	0:01
8)	Plumb Line	More Info...	0:02
9)	Learo, You're a Hole	More Info...	0:04
10)	Sick File	More Info...	0:01
11)	Toast	More Info...	0:04
12)	Backwash	More Info...	0:03
13)	Slow Worm	More Info...	0:03
14)	Powerwalker	More Info...