BISHOP – Steel Gods

Steel Gods is the third album from Bishop, a three-man band from New York, USA. In 2005, their song “Got The Way” was played a lot at NASCAR auto-racing events; couple this with the band’s extensive touring across the United States, and chances are you’ve heard a Bishop song or two somewhere at some time.

Looking at the cover of Steel Gods, which features a rather cool portrait of a giant robot punching a hole through the Earth, you might think that this 10-song album is a hard-hitting Heavy Metal opus in the vein of vintage Judas Priest and bands of that ilk. It isn’t, though. Bishop is more of a Hard Rock band than a Metal one, although the music this brother act cranks out is still fairly heavy and punchy.

Steel Gods gets out of the gate running with the fast-moving “Burnout Bitch,” which features catchy vocals and lots of buzzing guitars (Tommy Semeraro handles vocals and guitars for Bishop). This song is fairly short, but it wastes no time getting its point across. Second track “Dancing On My Grave” is a bit slower than the first song, but it has a nice big groove and some florid guitar lines.

Most of the songs that follow “Burnout Bitch” and “Dancing On My Grave” follow the same pattern set by those two tracks: heavy riffs, catchy vocals, big grooves, and a fair amount of momentum. None of the songs are exceptionally fast, but most of them move along at a good clip. “Seed” is a slower-paced song with a good melody, strong atmosphere, and heavy guitar lines; it’s the exception here, but it’s one of the better songs on the disc, joining the amusing “Outlaw Beaver,” groovy “Trip To Planet X,” and the very catchy, riff-heavy “Wingman” as standouts.

Bishop isn’t a really original band, and Steel Gods isn’t a really original album; you’ve heard this stuff many times before. Still, the band is good at what they do, and the album is energetic and fun, with plenty of brash, in-your-face attitude and doses of humor. This isn’t deep stuff, but some songs might get stuck in your head by the time the album reaches its close. Concluding track “Jib” goes on a little too long at nearly six minutes, but it closes the disc out respectably.

If you’re a fan of no-frills Hard Rock, check out Bishop’s Steel Gods; you’ll probably like it!