Icky Mettle

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

title: "Icky Mettle" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1993-debut-albums", "archers-of-loaf-albums", "albums-produced-by-caleb-southern", "alias-records-albums", "merge-records-albums", "fire-records-(uk)-albums"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icky_Mettle" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

FieldValue
nameIcky Mettle
typestudio
artistArchers of Loaf
coverIcky Mettle cover.jpg
released1993
recorded1993
genreIndie rock
length38:02
labelAlias
producerCaleb Southern
next_titleVs the Greatest of All Time
next_year1994
::

| name = Icky Mettle | type = studio | artist = Archers of Loaf | cover = Icky Mettle cover.jpg | alt = | released = 1993 | recorded = 1993 | venue = | studio = | genre = Indie rock | length = 38:02 | label = Alias | producer = Caleb Southern | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Vs the Greatest of All Time | next_year = 1994

Icky Mettle is the debut studio album recorded by the indie rock band Archers of Loaf. It was produced and engineered by Caleb Southern at Kraptone Studios in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and released by Alias Records in 1993. A deluxe reissue of the album was released by Merge Records in 2011.

The album was recorded and mixed in seven days. According to Eric Bachmann, "We spent like $5,000 to make it."

Reception

|rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = |rev2 = The A.V. Club |rev2score = A− |rev3 = Christgau's Consumer Guide |rev3score = A |rev4 = Entertainment Weekly |rev4score = A |rev5 = The Guardian |rev5score = |rev6 = NME |rev6score = 7/10 |rev7 = Pitchfork |rev7score = 9.0/10 |rev8 = Record Collector |rev8score = |rev9 = Rolling Stone |rev9score = |rev10 = Spin |rev10score = 8/10 Icky Mettle received generally positive reviews. Interview declared it the "Best Indie Rock Album of the Year". The Gazette listed it among the top 10 albums of 1993.

Legacy

Icky Mettle ranked number 32 in *Pitchfork*s original Top 100 Albums of the 1990s list, and Blender ranked it at number 56 in their 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever list. In a retrospective review, *Spin*s Mike Powell describes it as "an album of boyish fits and noisy guitar flurries. It's indie rock as hearty and art-free as oatmeal, before the line separating it from the mainstream dissolved, before it became so... eclectic."

In a 2005 interview with The Triangle, Eric Bachmann reflected on the album: "When we first came out we had that energy. It's a weird thing that you can't put your finger on... I listened to Icky Mettle, and I almost cringe when I hear it. But what the people probably liked when they heard that record was the energy we were putting out."

In 2011, Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional covered "Web in Front" on his album Covered in the Flood.

Track listing

All songs written by Eric Bachmann, Eric Johnson, Matt Gentling and Mark Price.

  1. "Web in Front" – 2:09
  2. "Last Word" – 3:35
  3. "Wrong" – 3:40
  4. "You and Me" – 3:10
  5. "Might" – 2:04
  6. "Hate Paste" – 2:46
  7. "Fat" – 1:19
  8. "Plumb Line" – 2:09
  9. "Learo, You're a Hole" – 3:51
  10. "Sick File" – 1:42
  11. "Toast" – 4:38
  12. "Backwash" – 3:27
  13. "Slow Worm" – 3:32
  14. "Audiowhore" — Japanese bonus track
  15. "Lowest Part is Free" — Japanese bonus track

Personnel

  • Eric Bachmann – vocals, guitar
  • Matt Gentling – bass
  • Eric Johnson – guitar
  • Mark Price – drums

Notes

References

References

  1. Marc Hawthorne. (March 28, 1996). "ARCHERS OF LOAF VS. TINNITUS". The Daily of the [[University of Washington]].
  2. Heaney, Gregory. "Icky Mettle – Archers of Loaf". [[AllMusic]].
  3. Murray, Noel. (August 2, 2011). "Archers Of Loaf: Icky Mettle". [[The A.V. Club]].
  4. Christgau, Robert. (2000). "[[Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s]]". [[Macmillan Publishers]].
  5. (July 29, 2011). "Albums: Aug. 5, 2011".
  6. Hughes, Tom. (December 15, 2011). "Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle – review". [[The Guardian]].
  7. (October 30, 1993). "Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle". [[NME]].
  8. LeMay, Matt. (August 1, 2011). "Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle". [[Pitchfork (website).
  9. Pearlman, Mischa. (December 2011). "Archers Of Loaf – Icky Mettle". [[Record Collector]].
  10. Dolan, Jon. (August 2, 2011). "Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle (Reissue)".
  11. Powell, Mike. (August 2, 2011). "Archers of Loaf, 'Icky Mettle' (Merge)". [[Spin (magazine).
  12. (Dec 29, 1993). "Year's high and low notes". The Gazette.
  13. "pitchforkmedia.com | album 90's top lists". Tclub.obninsk.ru.
  14. (December 2007). "The 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever". Blender Magazine.
  15. Jon Carrelli. (April 8, 2005). "Bachmann spills beans to Triangle".
  16. Ableson, Jon. "Chris Carrabba To Release "Covered In The Flood" Solo Album". Alter The Press!.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1993-debut-albumsarchers-of-loaf-albumsalbums-produced-by-caleb-southernalias-records-albumsmerge-records-albumsfire-records-(uk)-albums