Record Label: Pink Lemonade
Buy on Bandcamp
Dungeons and Dragons and ska should have a bigger crossover than they do. Both are niche fandoms that flirt with the mainstream (or at least one of them did until the kids from Hawkins IL started naming their villains after their DND campaign.) Both have long, complicated histories. Both have gatekeepers (sometimes literally in DND).
Yet I can only think of a few areas of intersections: my half-elf bard in my current campaign is a washed up rockstar that used to be in a band called the Mighty Mighty Bardgnomes (I am very proud of that joke), and last year artist Matthew Sargent crowd sourced the awesome 5e subclass – Colle of the Third Wave (my actual band even gets a shout out in the players manual).
So it’s incredibly cool that Canada’s Arcade Allstars went with a loose DND theme for their first full length album DESTINED 4 DISASTER. I first connected with this band when I included their excellent debut EP INSERT COIN on my year end best of list in 2023. I have been able to become friends with the band since then and was super stoked for their new album when it dropped in November of this year. Needless to say it will end up on my yearly best of (spoiler I guess?)
Any good DND party needs balance and the Arcade Allstars certainly have that. Everyone from the rhythm section, the horns, and the punky vocals bring it full throttle on this album. But the one instrument that stood out immediately was the keys. Kicking off the first track, “Blue Collar,” with a keyboard led melody laid the foundation of what was to come on the rest of the album. The following tracks balance out the keys with catchy horn lines and earworm choruses.
Lyrically, the album doesn’t break new ground in the ska genre and that’s ok! Topics like figuring out your place in the world, struggling with anxiety, self doubt, and the daily grind as tried and true ska topics that work so well wrapped in a peppy song.
Musically, the band brings a ton of different genres to blend into the perfect musical campaign. Hints of hardcore, jazz, punk and RIFFS a plenty. The title track stands out as my favorite overall song on the album, but there really isn’t a weak song in the bunch.
I am looking forward to hearing more from this crew, and ~fingers crossed~ venturing up to Canada to see them, or have them come down to the states to play some gigs with Backyard Superheroes at some point. Heck…maybe an all ska musician DND campaign at some point guys??????
Overall Rating: sided dice out of 5
PS- Just wanted to hype up the criminally underrated Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie from a few years back. It’s sooooooo fun and has become my comfort movie this past year. Go listen to Arcade Allstars. Watch that movie.