Sean Trane
Third album from this French “Zeuhl” quartet (your basic instrumental prog quartet), one that got the help of the Triton association in Paris, released in 06 and that was distributed through the Musea label. The still-unchanged line-up of OS delivers another batch of their dark and sombre soundscapes, between King Crimson and Magma or even Univers Zero, and on the more modern or lesser-known influences, one could mention Potemkine, Vortex, NeBeLNeST and a few more. Sooooo, you could say that One Shot sounds typically French prog, with some Zeuhl touches, induced by the pounding bass, but also the dark atmospheres of their music.
The opening title track starts the album on a demented pace, but to be honest, it’s rather repetitive and overstays its welcome, despite being the shortest track on the disc. The following 15-mins Fat tracks offers an excellent intense ambiance, on that can remind some of the mid-70’s fusion (Borghi’s electric piano helps out a lot) before smlowly dying away in flurry of beauty. If the following I Had A Dream pt 3 & 4 (the continuation of the two tracks on the previous album) starts out smooth and almost ambient, it soon crescendos to an amazing 100 MPH. The closing Missing Imperator is McGaw’s first composition for the group since its origins, but it’s not like his “songwriting” differs much from the rest of the band.
BTW, I haven’t been able to view the famous bonus video that’s supposed to be on the disc, so I can’t comment on it, but it won’t change my outlook of the album, giving it an average One Shot rating, because EV is no better or worse than their other albums, just a bit of a return to their debut album’s newer version (remixed & remastered). Soooo it’s your call to see if you need all of the OS albums..
