“The French female-fronted metal band UNSAFE brings the metal scene to a new level”… or so says the band’s label Mighty Music. A tad ironic, being that that is quite a mighty claim in itself, the problem is that it is nowhere close to the truth. Not that Enter Dark Places is a bad album, in fact, there really is nothing bad at all about the album, it’s just that there’s nothing great about it either.

What Unsafe actually brings to the metal scene, is competent, well played groove metal reminiscent of that ten year period from ’94 to ’04, bringing to mind bands like Lamb of God, Machine Head, Devil Driver, and Shadows Fall. Every song on Enter Dark Places really does have something enjoyable to be found, whether it’s the heavy groove of “Watch Out”, the Megadeth meets Machine Head vibe of “Intentional Homicide”, or the underlying melody in “The Final Stage”, as well as every song having impressive, fluid guitar leads that really do enhance the songs themselves .

The vocals of Stephanie Nolf, are a bit of a double edged sword for me. While I do appreciate that she isn’t trying to be yet another Arch Enemy/Angela Gossow clone, her style can get to be monotonous after a few songs. At her best, she comes off as a mixture of Dawn Crosby (Fear of God), James Ludbrook (Damaged), and Brian Fair (Shadows Fall), at her worst, she sounds like too many hardcore/metalcore bands not worth mentioning.

I feel that part of the problem with Enter Dark Places is that it’s a little long winded. At thirteen tracks and roughly 50 minutes, the album tends to wear out it’s welcome. Cutting the album down five songs would put it at around the thirty minute mark and honestly, would have really made a bigger impact for the listener.

Overall, Unsafe has crafted a decent slab of groove metal in Enter Dark Places. Unfortunately, it succeeds more in making me want to hear the albums from those who Unsafe drew influence from, more than it does in making me want to hit replay.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments