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4.5 stars. This is the first studio album ONE SHOT has made since guitarist James Mac Gaw passed. And like the album cover there is a dark and mysterious vibe to this record, this is different. They are now a two keyboard/bass/drums setup and I was surprised at the amount of synths on this one and I'm not the biggest fan of some of it and this record just sounds different.

While RIVERSIDE's "Wasteland" album, their first after their lead guitarist passed was clearly a band trying to come to grips with what happened, I feel they moved on with their next one. ONE SHOT did a live recording as a tribute to James called "A James" and no doubt this helped them to move on some while also creating some chemistry between the two keyboardists Ruder and Borghi. They are all over this album.

Hearing the opener "Off The Grid" for the first time was interesting. I don't remember them playing at this slow a tempo. And when the second keyboardist arrives it's like they are going around in circles, not going anywhere. I like how this builds and when the bass becomes more upfront it sounds more like them.

"Merovee" opens with electric piano as drums and bass join in. This is good but again it's surprising how slow the tempo is. Some organ then bubbling synths before this determined, stuttering section takes over. Themes are repeated. It calms down before 5 1/2 minutes, kind of dark too with sparse sounds. Intense keyboards around 8 minutes in. Sounds like crickets those synths at one point and returning a second time. This is just different.

"Don't Ask Me Why" is the first uptempo track and while we do get a calm half way through this is the song that sounds most like them despite synths leading at one point. This ends strong over those last 2 minutes. "Mustang" is the longest piece at 12 minutes and man this is intense right from the start. Unusual bright and high pitched synths at one point that don't exactly do much for me but again this is different. A dark and heavier sound follows and it's just not moving until just before 5 minutes. Synths get crazy again before 9 minutes, the two of them! Then it settles. "Mustang Coda" is 3 1/2 minutes of bass and atmosphere. Solemn stuff.

I'm bumping this up to 5 stars despite feeling it's their third best studio album. They've only released four shockingly plus a few live ones. A top ten band for me or at least top twelve depending on my mood but yes I'm a massive fan, a fanboy no doubt.