In many ways the music of Irish alternative rock band Able Archer is a storm; a creative tempest of imagination, passion, and voracious enterprise which simply lures ears and imagination into its dramatic clutches. It is a rousing proposal which is equally bred on intricate and adventurous craft just as enthralling and powerful as its energy. The Dublin quintet has almost everything any rock band could want in its armoury of invention and ingenuity, the proof coming in an array of songs and releases which have not only set the band apart from the crowd but ensured each individual track comes with its own unique character and invigorating emprise of creativity.
All this has been evident since day one of the band and certainly from their first release and introduction to the wider world, the “Bullets” EP. Formed in 2011, Able Archer was soon stirring up an eager and ever growing following around their home city and surrounding landscapes with a sound which was aggressive and ravenous, intimate and anthemically welcoming. It was the “Bullets” EP though which opened ears and attention across the wider stretches of the UK and into Europe; songs like the mesmeric and instantly refreshing ‘Superhuman’ and the insatiably contagious ‘Patches’ setting lofty plateaus for not only the release but the band itself within the underground rock scene. Backed by the open variety fuelling the magnetic passion soaked and eighties spiced ‘The Great Henry Watt’ as well as the discord tainted invention of the EP’s emotive title track, “Bullets” left no doubt that a real talent was emerging
Similarly live Able Archer quickly built and earned a strong reputation, the band grabbing the opportunity to tour across Ireland and the UK on the back of their EP whilst constantly looking to evolve and push their music forward. Stretch their sound and explore new creative climates the band certainly did with their next single, the emotionally incendiary ‘Ghostmaker’. Driven by the pumping rhythms of drummer Seán O’Connor, the track instantly exploded with fresh drama loaded with voracity within a blaze of roaring energy and virulently infectious enticement. Fair to say the encounter powerfully unveiled new depths to the band’s creativity, as it wove the sonic and melodic tenacity of guitarist Rob McDonnell and keyboardist Neil Buckley, and the growling prowess of bassist Diarmuid Breathnach, into one fiery and aggressively alluring temptation. The song immediately had fans and media throwing acclaim its and the band’s way; The RingMaster Review declaring “Ghostmaker leaves you exhausted and basking in another irrepressible slice of Able Archer excellence” and Sunset Radio offering the thought that “This is a band of importance, a band that has the potential to put Ireland straight back to its front centre days enjoyed when Thin Lizzy ruled the world.”
A tempter for “The Trouble with Strangers” EP from which it came, the track proved to be just one rich spice in a new imposingly thrilling Able Archer offering. Emotionally aflame through the ever gripping and expressive voice of Emmet McCaughey, “The Trouble with Strangers” proved to be the most eclectic and stirring proposition from the band yet upon its release in the November of 2014, and indeed against most things out that year. Recorded with Shane Cullen at K9 studios, the EP was a tempest of invention. From the increasingly rousing incitement of “Ghostmaker” and the fascinating and bewitching drama of “The Warden” to the vocally and melodically majestic evocation of “The Descent”, as well as the captivating elegance and emotive persuasion of “Only Love”, the EP announced that Able Archer had simply grown in every aspect; maturity, imagination, and pure craft especially.
The EP has provided a trio of potent treats and temptations in the shape of singles from its body at varying times in Ireland and the UK during 2015, with ‘The Warden’ having its British 
unveiling this August backed by a series of shows in a live presence which you can be sure is never relenting in energy, hunger, and thrills.
Able Archer is a band which you feel must push its boundaries; its members singularly and in union perpetually wanting to throw themselves into deeper depths of invention and daringly bolder explorations with every song they breed. The proof is all there in their releases so far though it is easy to suggest that they have only been laying the seeds to an inevitable heyday within British rock ‘n’ roll sometime soon.
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