Album Review: Forbidden – Forbidden
Reviewed by Rich Oliver
Back in the 1980’s, there were a lot of amazing thrash metal bands that emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area scene and in my opinion one of the best was Forbidden. They had a knack of being amazingly technical and beautifully melodic whilst managing to remain wonderfully fast and aggressive. They formed back in 1985 originally as Forbidden Evil before eventually shortening to just Forbidden in 1987 dropping two bona fide thrash classics with 1988’s “Forbidden Evil” and 1990’s “Twisted Into Form” – two of the best thrash metal albums ever recorded. When it came to the 1990’s, Forbidden fell into a trap that befell many other thrash metal acts during that era – the dreaded stylistic change with two albums of forays into the fashionable groove metal and alternative rock. After 1997’s “Green” album, Forbidden disbanded for many years eventually reforming in 2007 and dropping a new album “Omega Wave” in 2010 which was a welcome return back to a far more thrashing sound. This return did not endure however with the band splitting again in 2012 and everyone assumed that Forbidden were gone for good. However, the band reformed in 2023 performing a bunch of shows but also promising that new material was incoming. Now in 2026, we finally get the sixth album from Forbidden – the self-titled “Forbidden”.
This is a much anticipated return for Forbidden as the band’s recent live shows have proved there is a lot of fire burning in the band. Founding guitarist Craig Locicero and bassist Matt Camacho remain from the old days but the band have new/old blood in the line up with Chris Kontos (ex-Machine Head, ex-Attitude Adjustment) on the drums and Jeremy Von Epp (The Venting Machine) on guitars. Original vocalist Russ Anderson has retired from music but filling his massive shoes is the more than capable Norman Skinner (Hellscream, Skinner) who can nail the old stuff but also brings his own style to the new material on the album. So the big question is how does Forbidden sound in 2026?
With the setlists for the live shows being very much centred around their first two albums, there was massive hope for a full on thrash assault. If you expected “Forbidden Evil” or “Twisted Into Form” Part 2 then this album isn’t going to do it for you but if you are expecting an album that contains a bit of everything that Forbidden have done to date but also sounding like a contemporary thrash band then “Forbidden” will definitely leave you a happy listener. This isn’t an all guns blazing thrash album but it does definitely thrash hard but in a more restrained way. This is an album that has a ton of atmosphere as much as it has crushing riffs. The album opens with a trio of thrashers – ‘Single Point Failure’, ‘Burning The Lungs Of Earth’ and ‘Divided By Zero’ which have that old school Forbidden crunch with a contemporary twist. It is with ‘DCLXVI’ and ‘Psyclops’ that we start to see that there are going to be some different sounds on this album as the songs both pack a ton of groove and some chugging riffs as well as having a bit of a darker atmosphere. Following that is ‘Jinsei’ which is a mellow and atmospheric piece with some gentle vocals from Norman which is a bit of a waste of time and unnecessarily breaks up the flow of the album. Thankfully it is followed up by two hardened thrashers on the album – the crushing ‘Mutually Assured Dysfunction’ and the brilliant melodic and mid-paced ‘Sycophantasy’ which has a guest spot by Brann Dailor of Mastodon. The last chunk of the album is more forgettable with ‘The Burden’ and ‘Sol Grave’ being solid but ultimately rather forgettable but the album closes with its most experimental song ‘Flower Of Life (Chaos By Design)’ which is a full blown progressive thrash epic complete with piano, strings and atmosphere.
“Forbidden” is a a solid comeback album for the band. Much like its predecessor “Omega Wave”, it has some fantastic moments as well as some moments which feel more lacklustre and could have been left out but when this album hits the right spot, it really does slay. The drumming from Chris is killer and the guitar work from Craig and Jeremy is killer with some truly magnificent riffs and solos. Norman does a fantastic job on vocals channelling the mighty Russ Anderson at times but also putting his own stamp on things with a far more aggressive and snarling style which matches the darker tone of the album.
As said previously, “Forbidden” isn’t a straightforward thrasher. Throughout the album, you will hear elements of groove metal, traditional heavy metal, power metal and progressive metal. This will no doubt disappoint the old schoolers but it isn’t 1990 anymore and although it isn’t perfect, “Forbidden” is a fitting return for the band and as they said themselves this “isn’t merely a revival for the quintet, but full-blown reinvigoration and purgative endpoint for this Bay Area metal institution”. Highlights include ‘Single Point Failure’, ‘Burning The Lungs Of Earth’, ‘Mutually Assured Dysfunction’ and ‘Sycophantasy’.
For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.
