SAFE HAVEN is a '90s band from Stratford, Connecticut, United States that put out a few demos and made a few waves in their area, but never really caught on. Mixing some power riffs and prog transitions, they had some interesting tunes. Their collection of music was re-released by Arkeyn Steel Records on October 29, 2021.

The album opens with "Second Wind," a decent track that has some nice guitar work and a good rhythm. The song is set up with sound effects of wind and chimes. The vocals are pretty good, too. I get some nice 80s vibes from the whole thing. The tempo changes give a bit of a Prog feeling while the overall sound is more Power Metal. The drummer is good, and the bassist has some very nimble fingers. The song is a bit choppy, but solid.

"Seventh Heaven" is a bit more melodic with a slower tempo, but still has the breaks that take everything to a different place musically. This is a bit more 80s Glam Rock feeling. "Love Is Gone" is a bit darker and has an almost power ballad feel at times. These guys haven't really stayed in one lane at this point. There are a lot of backing vocals on this track, giving it the sound of a choir in the background.

"Games People Play" goes harder. There are Thrash and Power Metal hints here, though the added keyboards play more to the melodic Metal realm. The recording quality is unfortunately pretty bad on this track. This is a pretty good song, but hard to really appreciate due to the sound quality.

Tracks 8-10 are from a radio station and two of them have a DJ talking over the first part of the song. Again, the recording quality is not that good, but better than some albums that got a full release with major promotion, so I can't really complain. "Can't Stand to See You Cry" makes me think of the GUNS 'N' ROSES song "I Used To Love Her" at the start. It does shift away from that and becomes a pretty decent rocker.

Down the track list, we get "Homecoming," a ballad that is almost into the pop realm. "Promises Broken" also has a more melodic rock tone. These are home records according to their biography. I can appreciate these being a lower quality recording since they are homemade demos. They have a very different feel than the earlier work. These are more 80s power ballad style. Good songs that I would love to hear with better production quality.

The last two tracks are live recordings, including one from a reunion in 2017. 20 years after fading into the ether, they got back together for a night of fun and memories from the sound of it. SAFE HAVEN might have gone a lot farther had they had more support. While this is far from the worst quality recording I've heard, they were not being produced by any of the big names of the era. It was not as easy back then to get a good recording in a home studio or without someone knowing how to work the sound board.

The songwriting was pretty good and should have garnered more attention than it did. This is one of those "bands that got away" kind of thing. They had a lot of potential. Probably had a pretty decent following in their local area and may have even gone regional, but never quite broke through to the national level. This is a good collection for those people who remember the band, maybe even had a few beers with them after the show (and the loadout). This should bring fond memories to those who knew and loved them in their heyday.