Unsafe
Enter Dark Places

I am sure that it is Unsafe to Enter Dark Places, which is at least what we are getting if we combine the name and title of this French quintet. A quintet that sees three new members, only the vocalist Stéphanie and guitarist Lionel who founded the band some fifteen years ago are left. This is their seventh album and it enters dark places, it is said to combine all the greatest elements of the band. And of course we can also read the obligatory list of bands they have shared a stage with and all those things, but what about the band then?

Well, they are heavy, a bit dark. They talk about female vocals, something that I didn’t notice at first. The production is good, groovy, with a raw edge and a modern sound – I would say that it is a strong production. Thirteen tracks on the album and they show a decent variation and the playing time of just under fifty minutes doesn’t appear too extensive. I think that we can call this a pretty good production, these guys clearly seems to know how to make powerful metal music.

And they do it pretty well; the album is good in my opinion. It is not brilliant as there are some flaws but in case you are a fan of the similar bands or like a bit of groove and such things. They have great energy and drive in their music. The vocalist is not particularly brilliant though but not a major let down either. The major let down is the lack of hit songs, the lack of something that grabs my attention – I would describe this album as lacking that little extra, something that makes a good album great. They do have many things going for them, I just don’t think this album stand out in any way, it is certainly more good than bad but I hear albums like this all the time and it is difficult to come up with energy to care and to write clever things about each and everyone of them.

If you like the similar bands I am sure you will find this album very agreeable. For me there is no track that stands out from the rest and I say there are not points of entry into the album, nothing that catches the attention and then holds it. My thoughts are drawn away from the album quickly and wonder elsewhere, I think that this album is pretty good but I am sure I will forget about it as soon as I move on to the next album.

HHHHHHH