Python

The influences that tend to get mentioned when people talk about Riddle of Steel are prog rock and experimental artists of the 1970s and 1980s: King Crimson, Yes, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth, to name a few. It's strange enough to claim both Sonic Youth and Yes as antecedents, but to tell the truth, the band that kept popping up as an influence throughout this album was the Police, circa Ghost in the Machine. The reminders came mostly in the form of particular types of guitar chords (note in particular "Fire Is a Special Occasion") and Dave Turncrantz's drum flourishes, rather than any real melodic hookiness. And that's too bad, because if there's one thing this album could have used more of, or even one of, it's hooks. "Kissing in Secret" is beautiful in its way, but a bit too long and much too rambling and discursive; ditto the sprawling "Dime for the Curse Jar." "Double-Fister" is built on a nice, Robert Fripp-influenced guitar lick, but it doesn't really take it anywhere you'd want to follow. It's not that every rock and roll album ought to be chock full of hooks, but it would have been nice if Python showed more evidence of structural thought. Not bad, but not essential.