UNSETTLED

Dean Watson's 'Unsettled' is just that; a fantastic combination of diverse styling, sound and wonderful instrumentation. This wonderful showcase of a man of many talents is a true testament to the creativity which many artists who fly under the radar can display, and a true pleasure to listen to. This eclectic mix shows some wonderful synthsmanship and guitar work, creating a brilliant duality too often overlooked in modern prog. The combination perfectly compliments the jazzy, and at times metallic, feel of the overall album and makes for some brilliant music.

The whole album is a compelling journey through thousands of musical microcosms, and a wonderful listen each time.

The album opens with 'The Encounter', a wonderful track featuring brilliant piano and guitar work, with some great solos as well. The track opens up with a great tribal feel, and as an amateur guitarist and pianist myself, I can appreciate the amazing musicianship displayed by Dean on both of these instruments on this piece - the technicality, emotion AND atmosphere are all present, and the combination is perfectly balanced ? the solos are incredibly well played, but never cross the border into distastefully technical ? the perfect balance is maintained, and the sound is always organic and flowing.

Other tracks like The Push are great rockers, with some wonderful solos and synth work yet again. This track also carries the same mysterious texture as the previous, although feels both familiar and completely different? A wonderful comparison to the opener.

Out Of The Mist is the longest track on the album, and easily my favourite from the bunch. This is a brooding instrumental and has a super dense atmosphere, with a genuine sound to boot. The track flows with the same riff and various underlying soundscapes to blow the mind and torture the soul; this track feels reminiscent of Porcupine Tree at times. Eventually, this track explodes into an orchestra of noise. It's wonderful to hear an artist who, whilst clearly influenced by an eclectic bunch of artists, never seems to become a cheap copy and instead uses such influences to create an original sound rather than an internal tribute. The guitar and drumming combination in the last 3 minutes of this track stand up against some of the real modern prog giants in this reviewer's opinion.

Sequence Of Events is a great little transitional track, switching from a metal intro and mid-section into a great jazz outro. The drumming here is particularly fantastic, really top-shelf stuff.

DIP is another track which has some fantastic jumps from several recurring musical themes into one another, as well as featuring a great blend of emotions surrounding each theme. The first guitar solo is absolutely heartbreaking, and solos are rarely as well written as many found on this album. The piano layers here are a particularly curiosity; as a pianist myself, it's really quite a stunning job, and has been pulled off very well, with it's theatrical feel well intact.

The Departure is a spacey, slow moving track which takes a while to get off. The soaring solo which makes up the bulk of this track is really great, quite reminiscent of John Petrucci of Dream Theater, although Dean is no one-trick pony.

Gray Matter features a similar drumming intro to the opener, with more wonderful guitar and synth layering. The combo of the drumming and keyboard layers here is simultaneously chaotic and controlled, although with the added guitar solo, this track seems to be a little bit too busy for it's own good at times. Still a great piece, but this feels pale in comparison to the balance of most of the other pieces.

Next upon the album, Orb opens up with a great jazzy, piano-led feel and some chugging guitar and a supremely catchy rhythm, the synth being the obvious star of this track along with the understated drums. The layered keyboards are the key feature here - the interplay is wonderful over the droning guitar riff and drums. This track does feel a little overlong at times, although the second half is a great change to a much slower paced track, although still featuring some familiar sections from the first half. This closes with a triumphant, epic last minute of brilliant musicianship.

11th Heaven Blues is a much more metallic track than a lot of the album, with a pounding guitar drum/section and a stunning solo with some quick choppy synth chords, eventually leading into another fantastic soaring solo on the keys. The riff towards the end of the track is easily my favourite on the album, and one that'll really get stuck in your head for hours after. Great stuff.

The album comes to a close with Still (Unsettled), a great little track with soothing drums and soft guitar work. The occasionally piano sections create a dark, haunting feel which causes both unease and relaxation with it's unique sound. This track stirs to a close with the same drums which opened it.

Overall, Mr. Watson presents us with an incredibly strong album which will keep you coming back time after time. It does, however, feel a little repetitive in parts, although is largely a very, very solid release.

4 stars for this one. Fantastic!

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