Made up of a few members of the current incarnation of Magma, One Shot are an intense quartet that serves up burning instrumental music that successfully fuses progressive rock, jazz -fusion, and avant-garde. The tone of the five lengthy tracks are quite dark and mysterious, and contain plenty of ominous passages that allow each member to stretch yet still stay within the confines of each song.
Comparisons to the Mahavishnu Orchestra are noticed right away, as One Shot favors the dissonant maelstrom of sounds that the aforementioned band was famous for thirty years ago. There are many instances where the band is settled into a deep groove led by a melodic bass line, only to have the guitarist come crashing in for a furious blast of riveting noise that leads to a full band assault on your senses. Odd keyboard tones and textures also add to the dark quality of the music here, and help the more atmospheric sections carry more depth and color. When the band is at full throttle, beware, as each member duels solos and weaving lines with each other that is extremely impressive.
The fact that the band was able to set such a dark and somber mood in a live setting for these recordings is fascinating. It must have been a great experience to hear these musicians unfurl these dramatic , jazzy works live in person. My one and only beef with this CD is the decision to leave the audience background chatter in on a couple of the quieter moments. Perhaps this was unavoidable, but it is rather annoying. Otherwise a promising debut from a formidable ensemble.
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