It's not often you find a Spanish band making classic rock music, but the group of guys in MIDNIGHT ROAD out of Bilbao bring this classic American sound all the way from Spain to your ears. The band formed in 2006 and "Ready for the Fight" is only their second full-length album to be released after several lineup changes. I will say these guys do a good job of bringing the classic American rock sound to life and it's interesting to see a modern band take this route. The music is full of energy and there are some pretty fun guitar riffs and solos throughout the album. Their singer Jon even has that kind of classic rock sound to his vocals. It makes me wonder if there's a big scene for this in their area of Spain. However, I'm really not sure what kind of vibe they're going for lyrically. That's where I really get thrown off.

There are the typical rock themes of chasing after a woman or having a woman chasing after you and of being the best and baddest. "Voodoo Queen" is a song about a voodoo woman trying to steal this man's soul, and then there's the love/heartbreak ballad "When You Smile," plus the seductive song "Red Lips." Obviously, the title track "Ready for the Fight" is about being the winner and in "Back in Town" the singer refers to himself as an outlaw. The lyrics are consistently very basic and there's not a lot of substance to them.

In fact, I wasn't entirely sure what the song "Dirty Tricks" is about and it didn't really make any sense. The first verse has a couple lines that say "Life can be a dangerous game even if you're a bear's best friend." What? But then after that we get "Here comes the princess, gangsters, dragon breath and the shadow of a big red plane/You can listen to the engines moaning out as in a wacky race." But here is the chorus: "Make the motor growl/Catch your mean machine/Acme explosives/Dirty tricks/Go and beat 'em all/You are close to win/And Muttley is laughing in your face again." And this is when I did a Google search for who the hell Muttley is and it turns out Muttley is a cartoon dog in a 1968 TV series called "Wacky Races." So now I know this song is about a cartoon. Which is...weird. Especially for a classic rock band. And I have to admit those lyrics are super confusing without a Google. Interesting choice for a song subject.

The album is not musically bad, but the lyrics leave so much to be desired. They're just not very relatable or as fun as the music.