Review SIMON McBRIDE ‘The Fighter’

Simon McBride got quite some attention during the last weeks. It was end of March when Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse announced a temporary hiatus from Deep Purple live shows. Morse remains a full member of the classic rock icons but will spend some time for taking care about his wife who is battling cancer. Simon McBride is the guitarist who stands-in for Morse and maybe not everybody yet has heard of the guitarist from Northern Ireland.

McBride started playing guitar when he was ten. At the age of 15 he won the title of ‘Guitarist of the Year’ in the UK and later joined Sweet Savage. McBride’s musical career has many aspects including solo albums. With ‘The Fighter’ the next solo effort is ready to be shipped, a 12-song featuring longplayer with great rock- and blues-driven music.

The album starts with a song called ‘Don’t Dare’. It is a bold beginning with a very solid riff, being the entry-point to an exciting album. Rock and blues immediately melt to something that sounds great and becomes the glue that connects the tunes on ‘The Fighter’. McBride uses his musical toolkit to create songs that are easy approachable and still have a lot of finesse. Tracks like ‘Kingdoms’ and the closing ‘The Stealer’ are earworms.

‘The Fighter’ is a solid rocker, performed with passion and commitment. What makes the title track, but also the other eleven tunes to a great experience for rock fans is the authenticity. McBride writes lyrics and songs about dreams, life on the road and chances. What helps pushing the authenticity-factor to a ’10’ is that McBride is also singing these songs. Not only that he truly knows how to handle the six-string guitar. His rougher voice adds a lot of liveliness to each of the songs. McBride tells the stories of life and hereby allow the listen to establish an emotional connection. The singing guitar and the brilliant solos are hereby the emotion-strengthening elements. Songs like the touching ‘Don’t Let Me Go’ are great examples for McBride’s ability to add a lot of feel to his music.

Simon McBride has with ‘The Fighter’ a well-done longplayer in the starting blocks. This music is fueled by rock and blues. It invites to a vivid and emotion-laden 46-minute journey through the blossoming charm of guitar-driven rock music.