Posted on: July 19, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Each of the songs on “One Shot, One Kill” comes from a mixture of styles that include the Ramones and a number of the Irish punk bands (of which the best known has to be The Dropkick Murphies). “Don’t Shine Your Boots With A Half-Baked Will” is pushed to the end of what can be considered oi music, as “Don’t Shine Your Boots” is repeated no less than twenty times during the middle of the track.Each of the songs on “One Shot, One Kill” immediately follow from one another. The sound is cohesive to the point that only minute changes mark different tracks.

One of these minute changes has to be the inclusion of a sizzling guitar solo during “Gods Gamble” that really moves the band a few years later than The Ramones sound they use would indicate. A track like “Tokyo Memories” may start show, but the reliance that Last Target has on the vocal inflection during the track shows another small shift in the band’s sound that allows for listeners to continue listening in. There is no denying the fact that Last Target are a band that has a fire under them for the entirety of “One Shot, One Kill”.

However, by the time that “Tube Baby” kicks off, one wonders if Last Target does not have any other gimmicks up their sleeve. The sound of each track is great, with the entire mood created by the disc being nothing less than bouncy, it is just that all the songs on the disc attack one specific point of focus. Without much in the way of change-up, the replay value of the album is decreased. There is another hurrah for the band during “Toss & Turn”; in this track, the guitars and vocals work together to really create a catchy rhythm that pounds listeners’ head in. Last Target takes on a mid-nineties, almost pop-punk sound to their music that is topped off by the guitar solo that is placed toward the end of the disc. “Ikuji” is the longest track on the disc by a minute and a half, and it may be the innovation that Last Target needs to exploit of more in their next release. The differing sound of the track is marked enough from the rest of “One Shot, One Kill” that individuals will be snapped back to focus in on the last few tracks of the disc.

Top Tracks: Ikuji, Tokyo Memories

Rating: 5.8/10

Last Target – One Shot One Kill / 2006 BYO / 13 Tracks / http://www.lasttarget.com / http://www.byorecords.com / Reviewed 19 March 2006

[JMcQ]

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