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DARK SHOT

One Shot

Jazz Rock/Fusion


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One Shot Dark Shot album cover
4.22 | 102 ratings | 5 reviews | 37% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 2008

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Black P (9:09)
2. Opus 12 (7:52)
3. Def MK1 (9:48)
4. Blade (4:54)
5. Automate (7:29)
6. Downwards (9:10)
7. Nosh Partitas (5:56)

Total Time 54:18

Bonus DVD from 2008 release:
- Live Au Triton (January 24, 2008) :
1. Automate (8:05)
2. Black P (10:30)
3. Downwards (10:15)
4. Def MK1 (12:30)
5. Ewaz Vader (10:35)
6. Urm (8:35)
7. Opus 12 (8:35)
- Studio bonus (January 14, 2008):
8. Blade (4:30)
9. Interviews (7:50)

Line-up / Musicians

- James Mac Gaw / guitar
- Emmanuel Borghi / keyboards
- Philippe Bussonnet / basses
- Daniel Jeand'heur / drums

Releases information

Artwork: Thierry Millotte

CD + DVD Le Triton ‎- TRI-08515 (2008, France) Bonus DVD with Live footage directed by Jacques Vivante plus bonus track and interviews

Thanks to King Of Loss for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
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ONE SHOT Dark Shot ratings distribution


4.22
(102 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(37%)
37%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(40%)
40%
Good, but non-essential (15%)
15%
Collectors/fans only (7%)
7%
Poor. Only for completionists (1%)
1%

ONE SHOT Dark Shot reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars Three of the four members of this band have a Zeuhl background as they all have played in MAGMA. I'm talking about James Mac Gaw-guitar, Emmanuel Borghi-keyboards and Philippe Bussonnet-bass. Daniel Jeand'heur is one of my favourite drummers as well. He played on AMYGDALA's latest and was simply outstanding. This is truly a band effort as 3 of the 4 members composed 2 songs each, and Mac Gaw composed the other one. These guys are truly brilliant musicians who play a heavy, dark and atmospheric brand of Jazz that I cannot get enough of. This band is one of my top ten of all time favourite bands, which for me really speaks volumes about how I feel about them.

"Black P" is a Bussonnet composition and one of my top three songs on here. The way it opens with the dark keys and bass really brings MAGMA to mind before a full sound takes over quickly. Some feedback from Mac Gaw's guitar as the bass chugs along. Borghi becomes more prominant on keys before 4 minutes. Nice. Incredible sound before 5 minutes. I just can't praise this song enough. "Opus 12" is a Borghi tune. Keys not surprisingly lead the way in this more uptempo song. Again I just love the sound. Bussonnet is a genius on bass. This one is more jazzy than the first track. The tempo slows down 3 minutes in as James solos on his guitar. Philippe takes over on his bass after 5 minutes. "Def MK1" is Daniel's song. This one is darker and slower with keys and bass standing out, although the drums are active they are light at this point. The song gets heavier after 4 1/2 minutes. Great sound. Some angular guitar 6 minutes in starts to rip it up as Bussonnet offers up slabs of heavy bass. Check out the drumming 8 1/2 minutes in !

"Blade" is a Bussonnet composition and the shortest track at just under 5 minutes. It opens with a dark atmospheric soundscape as cymbals clash and keys come in. It ends as it began. A very cool song. "Automate" is Borghi's tune. It opens dramatically.This has a sinister vibe to it as the deep molten bass comes in and drums pound at a mid pace. Keys arrive as haunting guitar sounds come and go. Borghi starts to take a more prominant role before 4 minutes. Themes are repeated. "Downwards" is Mac Gaw's track and one of top three. The guitar fortunately takes a big role in this one. We get a nice heavy backdrop as James just lights it up throughout the 9 minutes. Amazing ! "Nosh Partitas" is Daniel's second tune. Great drum intro as it then settles down quickly as keys and bass take over. Incredible sounding guitar 2 minutes in as it grinds away before turning angular. Keys take over a minute later. The bass is just throbbing.

So hard to pick between this one and their earlier masterpiece "Ewaz Vader". By the way this one comes with a fantastic DVD of them playing in concert earlier this year. With Jannick Top's new record, and this new one from ONE SHOT I feel that 2008 has already been a huge success.

Review by tszirmay
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
5 stars Shadowy and menacing like an impending tornado, One Shot is one hell of a heavy prog nightmare, reminding us that King Crimson's "Red" was pretty close to zeuhl and that a fantastic foursome can still be the finest sonic orgy ever. This is a sledge-hammer guitar, keyboard, bass and drum onslaught with no frills or ornaments and no ribbons and bows. Contrary to their day Magma gig, they waste no time with vocals either, preferring a simple menu of just plain, head down instrumental fury .We are miles away from symphonic prog , delving instead into the deep core of molten rock , bubbling miasma, sweltering shards of fiery sound and harsh flows of powerful bravado. Egged on by the ominous Philippe Bussonet bass panzer and seconded by some rivet-busting drums from Daniel Jeand'heur, lead guitarist James McGaw and keyman Emmanuel Borghi have carte blanche (or rather carte noire!) to roam majestically and at will. The whirlwind "Black P" wastes little time in setting the stage with some ferocious flings that wink and nod at certain a red monarch from long ago, while "Opus 12" collides head on with softer machines, a driving heavy jazz romp that is totally unrelenting. Immediately it becomes apparent that these men really can handle their instruments convincingly and that a unique spirit elevates this to grandiose heights. "Def Mk1" is at first slightly more unsettling, urging towards a paranoia-laden concoction where the electric piano rules supreme (what a solo!) , a nasty bass grimace kicks in shoving the mood ever forward, deeper and deeper into a sonic chasm, some hot wire guitar needling away at the crust and serious explosive high voltage drumming to keep the tension sizzling. Wow! "Blade" is the briefest piece, a cymbal jungle veering into a softer expanse that offers some well-deserved respite and introspection, a razor sharp display of groom and doom. Slap on the gel, make it foam and let the cutting edge slice away the bristle. Cool indeed! "Automate" is a slingshot salvo back into aural insanity, a robotic Wetton-esque bass furrow sweeping everything in its path, ringing e-piano resonance caressing the road signs, deliberately baleful and lumbering. Trashy drums keep it all on track while a twisted synthesizer sortie makes an effective appearance, insistent and ravenous. "Downwards" is a guitar fiasco that ignites from the get-go, a histrionic unleashing of tone and texture that reveals McGaw's inner sanctum, a universe fluid and raw, uniquely disturbing and yet deadly accurate. There are no Holdsworthian displays in his attitude, in fact it's actually closer to early John MacLaughlin's (another crazy Scot) or more conventional rock guitarists like Fripp or Reine Fiske of Landberk legend. "Nosh Partitas" is a whopping closer that rages, vents and fulminates with little decorum, the throbbing bass well installed and the One Shotters headed to the sulphuric finish line. In closing, prog is like making love , sometimes we like sweet and sensual and then there are those edgier moments when it's so good hard and sweaty . A no contest masterpiece. 5 sombre reptiles
Review by Sean Trane
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog Folk
4 stars Latest release (that I know of) from this French "Zeuhl" quartet, and a double disc affair: with one studio album (recorded over three months in early 08 in the Le Triton studio) and a live DVD of a concert, recorded early in that recording period over the adjoining concert hall. The still-unchanged line-up of OS delivers another batch of their dark and sombre instrumental 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 DVD disc is made from one night's concert, where the band was allowed to develop their musical realm, but they chose mostly to feature their in-progress work of the album they were busy with. Indeed only Ewaz Vader (from the album of the same name) and Urm (from Vendredi 13) were familiar to the small public, the rest of their set being from the Dark Shot studio album. As you can guess, the DS tracks are much rawer live than their final studio versions, but they're already fairly close to their final version. As for EV and Urm, they sounded understandably more at ease with those older numbers. There is also a bonus live footage in the studio version of Blade (from their new album) and a two-part interview that is of relative interest. While all One Shot albums are fairly close sonically (especially with their first album recently remixed and remastered), this means that anyone of them could serve as an introduction to the band's works since they are all representative of the band's oeuvre, but if you're going to chose just one, you might want to choose the present Dark Shot, precisely because you get a visual aperçu performance to complete the aural experience.

Review by BrufordFreak
COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Very polished, melodic, and sophisticated Zeuhl-based jazz fusion from France. Three of these band members are alumni of Christian Vander's MAGMA lineup from his 2000s studio and touring band, while drummer and ONE SHOT founding member Daniel Jeand'heur being a long time fan of Magma and the jazz greats of the 1960s.

1. "Black P" (9:09) plodding along with great skill, there just isn't very much for me to be drawn in by. For me, Philippe Bussonnet is the star of this one. (17.33/20)

2. "Opus 12" (7:52) a little more driven and uptempo. James Mac Gaw's guitar play is almost ALLAN HOLDSWORTH-like while Emmanuel Borghi's keyboard range is delightfully more similar to those of George Duke's or Allan Zavod's contributions to JEAN-LUC PONTY's wonderful string of albums in the late 1970s. A very solid song with some nice hooks and, of course, great performances. (13.25/15)

3. "Def MK1" (9:48) back to a more brooding jazz-rock, perhaps even closer to the Avant Garde world of GUAPO or UNIVERS ZERO, though this is still very much what we'd all call Zeuhl. Keyboards and drums are more in the limelight on this one. (17.5/20)

4. "Blade" (4:54) opening just like an old JEAN-LUC PONTY song, this one continues to move along very slowly, very delicately, as if moving cautiously through a dingy dark alley well after midnight. Cool but never really goes anywhere--never achieves resolution. (8.667/10)

5. "Automate" (7:29) more plodding suspenseful music in which the drums, bass, and keys play their parts very conservatively over the course of the opening two minutes. Drums are the first instrument to "come to life" in the third minute as the others go through some zombi-like chord progressions before returning to the opening motif. At 3:35 the soundscape shifts (though the rhythm and pacing remains constant) as keys move to the front to solo in a very JAN HAMMER-like aggressive way. The drummer is so solid, so in-sync with the pace! At 5:35 we return to whole-band solidarity (the keyboard solo ends) before we go through the "chorus" of chord progressions. Guitar takes a turn in the lead for final minute but really does nothing very dynamic. Solid. (13/15)

6. "Downwards" (9:10) dirty electric guitar arpeggi in the opening minute give this a very rock feel to it. The break and bridge at the one-minute mark is also very rock-like, but then the band picks up a new chord progression and new rhythm foundation to carry forward. Keys offer a little floweriness before the band shifts gear into a more laid-back Zeuhl motif with strong bass play and, eventually, electric guitar soloing. Despite some fine drumming on display, the repetition of the same descending chord-and note progression gets a little old; by the sixth minute I've about had enough; there's just not enough exciting music going on over the top/in the front. A little keys action, some fine bass play in the seventh and eighth minutes and, finally, some dynamic (JAN AKKERMAN "Answers? Questions!"-like) guitar work eighth and ninth minutes but it's just not enough. (17/20)

7. "Nosh Partitas" (5:56) coolness (in the engineering of the drums) and melody! Jazz-like in a JEAN-LUC PONTY way. Great keyboard chord support, great bass play (especially the funk stink in the middle), and nice drumming and guitar play. The band all seem to be working very hard to time the syncopated melody lines together as a team. And then James Mac Gaw does some truly avant (DAVID TORN-like) guitar work. Another nice JAN HAMMER-like synth solo in the fourth minute. My favorite song on the album. (9/10)

Total Time 54:18

The skill and competency levels of the four musicians is unparalleled, but the music, to my mind, misses the additional presence of human voices and maybe something else--like melodic (or non-melodic) "hooks".

B/four stars; a nice addition to any prog lover's music collection--especially if you like high quality instrumental jazz or Zeuhl.

Review by Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Those who know their prog history will recall that zeuhl can be best thought of as a weird offshoot of jazz fusion, with early Magma releases being along decidedly fusion-oriented lines (in keeping with Christian Vander's reverence of John Coltrane) before shifting into the "Klingon opera" mode of peak zeuhl.

One Shot are a group who vividly recall zeuhl's fusion roots, and who play a style of fusion which bridges classic fusion of a dark, volcanic Mahavishnu Orchestra bent with zeuhl stylings, particularly when it comes to having a dark, pulsating rhythm underpinning their compositions. Ewaz Vader, the release preceding this, pioneered this style very effectively, whilst Dark Shot takes it even further, immersing the listener into a subterranean world of sinister zeuhl- fusion guitar growls and keyboard titters. Deserves the consideration of fans of both subgenres.

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