Icky Mettle

Icky Mettle is the first 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 on November 23, 1993.

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

The album spent 22 weeks on the CMJ charts. Interview declared it the "Best Indie Rock Album of the Year". Also, it ranked #32 in Pitchfork Media's original Top 100 albums of the 1990s list.Blender ranked it at #56 in their 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums ever list.

In a 2005 interview with The Triangle, 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."

Reception

The album has received generally positive reviews. Spin gave Icky Mettle a score of 8/10. Reviewer 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."