Apart from being ex Offering, Claude Salmiéri was the original drummer with Bernard Paganotti's eponymous group. Here we have what seems like a direct continuation of Paga Group's gothic fusion - one could imagine that Salmiéri composed this work for an unreleased Paga album - with just the occasional twist of more straightforward fusion. Come to think of it, some of the melodies remind me of ZAO's new record... but more of that later. The opening instrumentals 'Mr Herbie' & 'Open Sky' are pure Paga in style, yet it's not until track 3 ('In Out' - a more conventional tune) that Bernard makes an appearance on Chapman stick. The highly percussive 'Fat Tuesday' (co-composed by Gerard Bikialo) sees a forceful return to this Gothic / Zeuhl form, though with a fierce guitar solo which is rare in this type of work. 'Another Life' sneaks up on you with its ethnic wordless chanting, like a subtle Weather Report with strong hints of PAGA GROUP's 'Gnosis'. Paganotti, Bikialo, Bertrand Lajudie, Eric Seva and Yvon Guillard make substantial contributions to this splendid album that should appeal to fusion aficionados, but the killer track for Magma completists is 'God Knows', which was co written by Klaus Blasquiz (and I think I've heard Klaus sing this in concert with Paga...). The closing track is a piano solo in time same vein as Vander's 'Coltrane Sündïa'. If you like any of the Paga albums this is an indispensable CD.