Search - Forbidden :: Green

Overlooked and Underappreciated

J. Palumbo | Florida, U S A | 02/25/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Forbidden came out of the slew of San Francisco thrash bands to follow in the wake of Exodus and ultimately Metallica. Accordingly, they have the hallmarks of that particular region's heavist: tight and bludgeoning rhythmn section, tempo changes galore et al. But what set them apart is they have an actual singer. This may very well have been their downfall, as tastes were turning predominantly toward growlers like Hetfield at the time. I would liken them to more of a Flotsam and Jetsam vocal meets Testament/Vio-lence.

"Green" without a doubt is their overall strongest release. Not to knock their scary-as-all-hell debut, the venomous "Forbidden Evil" or the nearly-brilliant "Twisted Into Form", but "Green" is much more varied and just H-E-A-V-Y. It just grinds you down with it's sheer weight juxtaposed against brilliantly twisted melody.

Sad that they never saw these heights again.

Avoid "Distortion" altogether - it reeks of "contractual obligation"."

Very strong, but unfortunately final, offering

Worgelm | United States | 02/21/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First off, net metal reviewers, can we please stop throwing "Nu" around needlessly when you really just want to say an album is well produced? Its like you would have us believe Fred Durst will suddenly step from behind Tim Calvert's cabinet and drop some mad rhymes mid-solo. "Nu" does not belong anywhere near ANY record in Forbidden's catalog. And while yes, there are some distorted vocals and guitar squeals, there are also raging melodic solos, and quite frankly, King Crimson was doing the distorted vocals thing in 1969 with "21st Century Schizoid Man" well before most of the guys in Korn were even born.





This album is classic prog-thrash with 90s attitude, well-produced, four-to-the-floor NASTY. Since they are second-generation San Fran thrash, this band is a bit more obscure than even Death Angel or Violence standards, strictly a cult thing, but ask any real bay area veteran and you will be schooled. In contrast to the first album fans, whose haste to condemn them is alarming for having a little fun ("Over the Middle"), let me assure those of you who have heard bad things about _Green_ that Forbidden is here on serious business on this, their swansong. And they go down swinging. The entire album generally shows confidence, band chemistry and mature songwriting than the wildly uneven _Distortion_. _Green_ has many highlights, with typical searing guitar from Locicero and Calvert, as well as excellent, melodic but throaty vocal work from Russ Anderson, starting with the psychadelic opener "Last Time." The album reaches an early, speedy apex with the ravenous "Face-Down Heroes," which starts its rhythm from a phone busy-reorder sample and just gets deadlier as the song continues. The next stretch of songs starts to get a little samey, "pHat" and "Noncent$" continuing the political/environmental themes while "Blank" sees Forbidden try a somewhat novel (for them, anyways) "ballad"-like approach. But the awesome, psychadelic eastern-tinged album closer "Focus" is a song dark and mysterious enough to make Maynard from Tool's tiny little arm hairs stand up at attention. Great underrated and neglected semi-masterpiece, perhaps the highlight of their catalog."

Great album, don't buy mp3

L. Gagne | Alameda, CA United States | 05/30/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After looking for bands that I use to listen to I came across Forbidden which were great in the late 80's and 90's. This record is no exception. Good heavy thrash that the Bay Area was putting out still banging hard. The only problem I have is with the quality of the MP3 download. Sounds like a CD skipping and you will be very disappointed if they do not fix it. Buy the CD if you want this album."