Arcade - Arcade

Arcade delivered a record that couldn't have been more out of step with the times of 1993 -- it's an album that's blissfully unaware of grunge, goth, industrial, dream pop, and jam bands, any of the alternative sounds that bubbled up from the mainstream to the pop charts in the early '90s. It's a driving, glossy L.A. rock album, and it makes no apologies for what it is. If anything, the group ups the ante but cuts away any of the excess that brought the genre crashing down under its own hubris. This is a lean, streamlined rock record that glides on its own momentum, only occasionally dipping into ballads and acoustic guitars. It almost feels reactionary, as if the group was recoiling from the slick, crossover hair metal that ruled the genre for years. This is the best thing about the record, since it gives it a real swagger that compensates for material that is fairly generic, almost deliberately so. This no-nonsense, ballsy approach has the right sound and attitude, and if it had arrived at the right time, say 1990, it could have been a hit. But it got lost in 1993, with almost no attention from radio or press, even from metal stations and guitar magazines, two outlets that had traditionally been kind to hard rockers like this. So, Arcade's eponymous album was something only the devoted heard, and even today, it's the kind of item that only fanatics of Ratt, Cinderella, or L.A. hard rock and metal will seek out. The thing is, it's worth seeking out -- this delivers the goods without pretense or nonsense. And for those looking for a solid '80s hard rock album they haven't heard, this is an excellent choice. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide