Crack out your old school Nintendo or Atari and get ready to hear some music directly influenced by umm, 8 bit sounds? Karate High School claim their main influences to be not other bands but that of old school video games like Contra, Super Mario Brothers, Millipede, Tron and Paperboy. And you could also say that Arcade Rock is almost better as a genera then the title of this album. The album features customized keyboards, live samples, crushing guitars and a lot of energy.

Opening the album is “Good News And Bad News” which sets the pace for this high energy album. It’s fast pace, mix of keyboards and high energy guitars are sure to catch your ears right away. I can’t say i’ve heard a band quite like this since Punch Drunk’s album Pure, Unadulterated Hate Is The Best Medicine. Other then that you can’t hear much of a resemblance to any other bands out there. With a light piano intro turning into some hard hitting guitars “Twice Upon A Time (110%)” opens even more doors with it’s mix of keyboards, loops, hard guitars, heavy bass and pounding drums. On their track “88 Million Light Years Away” we hear a funky electronic intro followed by some hard crunchy guitars and a lot of electronic beats. I love the piano / hard guitar intro on “This Is The Soundtrack.” The band slows things down a bit on “Scenes Rushing By.” I think the it plays off well with it’s light loops playing in the background. Lyrically we hear a lot of lyrics about life, love, girls and more. But in general they are sing along and your going to be rocking out to the music more then anything. Throughout the rest of the album the tracks don’t show much change from the first half of the album.

Having a unique sound in todays music scene is rather hard and almost unheard of in some situations. I have to give Karate High School props for being influenced by games rather then the normal set of bands that most bands write on their lists of influences. Arcade Rock doesn’t show a lot of change from song to song but it will certainly please a lot of rock/electronic lovers. And even though you don’t really hear a resemblance to your favorite old school games you can tell the band worked a lot on the electronic parts to give them a unique sound for their music. Pick this one up for a fresh taste of something different.

Track Listing
1. Good News And Bad News
2. Twice Upon A Time (110%)
3. 88 Million Light Years Away
4. Sweep The Leg
5. This Is The Soundtrack
6. Scenes Rushing By
7. Extra! Extra! (Hear All About It)
8. Another Day At The Office
9. Oh No
10. Smile, You’re On T.V.
11. The Joke Is On Us

Standout Tracks
“Good News And Bad News”, “88 Million Light Years Away”, “Scenes Rushing By”