UNSETTLED

Dean's Watson's 'Unsettled' is a refreshing and innovative instrumental album that blends progressive technical ectasy with old-fashioned rock and jazz styles, while still remaining copiously tasteful.

'Unsettled' starts with the track entitled "The Encounter," which is a great space-jazz guitar and keyboard-led song with a lot of metal undertones. The following track "The Push" is more in the vein of heavy-jazz. Overall, 'Unsettled' is built around an experimental mix of atmospheric as well as traditional keyboards, seething electric guitar, metal stylings and jazz structures. Neither one of these styles is ever overly present, making this one very eclectic album. To omit a mention of the wonderful drums and guitarring would be a grave mistake, as I believe these are the two most "shining" elements of the album. The drums are jazz-based and the guitar has sort of a dirty jazz lead guitar tone.

Some key tracks that perhaps best represent the album and its variety include: "The Push", "Out of the Mist","The Departure", "DIP", and "Orb." These tracks clearly display the metal, jazz, rock, and atmospheric elements of the album at their peak creativity. Some other bands that some may compare to this Dean Watson outing may include Riverside, at times Porcupine Tree, and Dream Theater, to the best of my knowledge. I feel this is a very good album, but can be a bit spotty at times. The intense rhythms are nice, but I'd like to see a bit more improvisation, and acoustics used more as well. Only small problems with an otherwise great album. I recommend 'Unsettled' to those wanting to discover jazz who favor heavier types of rock, such as metal. 'Unsettled' nicely blends many music styles together, and the end product is a very enjoyable and meditative piece of music. I give it 3.5 stars and round up to 4. Very nice job, Dean! Keep making good music!