Dean Watson - "Unsettled" Review

Artist/ Band: Dean Watson
Title: Unsettled
Label: Self release
Year of Release: 2010
Offical Artist/ Band Link

The Review:

Hailing from Toronto Canada, multi-instrumentalist Dean Watson has released an album called Unsettled. This is a true “solo” album as all the instruments are played by Dean himself. To me that’s an amazing accomplishment to be able to come up with the ideas on this album with each instruments, all done by one man.

From the opening track “The Encounter” (5:05) to the closing track, “Still (Unsettled)” (2:17), the listener is treated to some of the best instrumental progressive rock and fusion. Each of the songs are quite unique, which shows the sign of an expert musician. You hear more here than with most full bands. My favorite off the album is “Out Of The Mist” (8:27). It has a moody ambient feel mixed in with a heavier element. During the heavier moments, I’m reminded of the band UK.

In closing if you’re a fan of prog/fusion especially bands like Planet X, FromUz, Derek Sherinian, Helmet Of Gnats, Relocator, UK and similar bands, you’ll need to pick this album up immediately. I read on the Progressive Ears website, from Dean himself, that the drums were all programmed. In all honesty, if I hadn’t read that, I would have sworn it was real drum. (Well done Dean!). Unsettled is by far one of my favorite instrumental albums of 2010 and gets a very high recommendation!

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on November 20th, 2010

Tracks:

01. The Encounter

02. The Push

03. Out Of The Myst

04. Sequence Of Events

05. Dip

06. The Departure

07. Gray Matter

08. Orb

09. 11th Heaven Blues

10. Still (Unsettled)