Send "Archers of Loaf " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 No single trend in 1990s indie rock can be traced back to Archers of Loaf. They weren't quite "lo-fi," they weren't quite "slackers," their guitars weren't quite "noisy" and their drums weren't quite "mathy." Eric Bachmann's vocals were gritty and visceral, but his lyrics were oblique and cerebral. Archers of Loaf thrived on subtle contradictions, on purposeful vagaries, on tentative gestures delivered with utmost conviction. It comes as neither a surprise nor a disappointment that this much-needed remaster of the band's 1993 debut, Icky Mettle, isn't particularly revelatory: Everything is still right there in the songs themselves.It seems fitting that Archers of Loaf's first reunion show this year was not a high-profile festival appearance, but rather an unannounced "opening" slot for now-labelmates the Love Language at a mid-sized rock club. Like fellow North Carolinians Superchunk, Archers passed on interest from a major label during the 90s "alternative" gold rush, signing instead with independent label Alias (then home to Yo La Tengo and the Loud Family). They released increasingly adventurous records for five years, and broke up with minimal drama or fanfare. This, the first in a series of planned deluxe reissues from Merge, perfectly captures the energy of the band's early days, from their slapdash first singles to the scrappy brilliance of Icky Mettle itself to the more honed recordings that followed. Released on the heels of some well-received singles and a buzzed-about performance at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York, Icky Mettle was a hotly anticipated debut for the pre-Internet age. To say it starts on a strong note would be an understatement; opener "Web in Front" is quite simply among the finest indie rock songs ever written. That a song whose lyrics are all but impossible to parse literally comes off as so immediate and relatable speaks both to Bachmann's skill with words-as-sounds, and to his bandmates' ability to put force and nuance behind his voice. Much of the credit here belongs to guitarist Eric Johnson, whose melodic and fluttery guitar parts seem to hammer the very emotional notes that Bachmann's words intentionally skirt....full text |
| Sputnikmusic |
| Unfortunately for Archers of Loaf they were never able to receive much mainstream success. Even on a website such as sputnikmusic the band is still ignored which really is a shame. I say this because bands such as Pavement and Built to Spill are extremely popular in the underground world of music while Archers of Loaf are ignored. I’m writing this review because if you enjoy the two bands that I mentioned above then you’re more then likely to enjoy Icky Mettle. While a lot of indie rock groups during the 90's had sort of a slacker edge to them Archers of Loaf show a lot of intensity. With two guitar players in the band the music is extremely fuzzy, chaotic, and messy. The hard rocking guitar riffs create a wall of sound, Eric Bachmanns angst ridden vocals are buried deep in the mix of crashing guitars and rumbling bass-lines. Most of the songs are around two to three minutes long and this benefits the listener because if the songs went on any longer then your head may start to hurt. Although musically Archers of Loaf are very loud and unorganized their songs are still very addicting and catchy. After listening to Icky Mettle for the first time the songs sound kind of similar. There are a few angular breaks in a couple of songs but for the most part the music is in your face never giving you a chance to take a break. The music goes from the pop-punk riffs of Wrong and Hate Paste to angst-ridden indie-rock tunes (Last Word, You And Me) to insane noisefests (Sickfile, Slowworm) to the occasional subdued track (Plumb Line). I’ll admit that Icky Mettle does not show a great deal of diversity but it features just enough to get by without being repetitive....full text |
| Dustedmagazine |
| cky Mettle should have sounded terrible. It was the first album from Archers of Loaf, and they reportedly recorded it in about seven days for very little money. More than anything else, the band was trying to pull off something particularly difficult. Archers of Loaf was one of the heavier American indie rock bands, and never more so than on Icky Mettle. Eric Bachmann, sounding like the evolutionary Paul Westerberg, pushed his already-gravelly voice into the red on every song, while he and Eric Johnson traded squalls of noise from their two guitars; on bass, Matt Gentling was responsible for carrying a lot of the melody, and Mark Price kept everything moving along at a breakneck pace. But the Archers of Loaf was basically a group of pop songwriters who filled out their work with layers of noise and distortion and then played everything as fast and as loud as possible. This is like hanging around coffin corner: It takes a ton of energy for a band to put something like this over, but they also can’t let that obscure everything else they are trying to do. That Archers of Loaf pulled it off despite the short time and shoestring budget on Icky Mettle is the reason it’s a classic album – and, looking over the set lists from the band’s current reunion tour, it’s also the record with Archers’ most popular material. This Merge reissue (the first in a series of four studio albums) takes advantage of the reunion tour’s favorable reception, which itself takes advantage of a renewed interest in early 1990s indie rock, both the originals (the Pavement reunion) and their contemporary followers (Yuck, Gold-Bears). The first LP of the reissue project is the original Icky Mettle, remastered by Bob Weston, while the second includes a collection of odds and ends, including the complete Archers of Loaf vs. The Greatest of All Time EP (which, ironically, did not have the song “Greatest of All Time,” which was on Vee Vee). There’s also the two songs from their first single, an early version of “Wrong,” and its b-side, “South Carolina,” along with all of the songs from the three singles the band released in 1993 and early 1994. The early material is interesting, if only to hear how “Web in Front” and “Wrong” were fleshed out on Icky Mettle. But it’s the album, and The Greatest of All Time, that are the real draw here....full text |
Archers of Loaf lyrics
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