Evil Dr. Smith: I hate Forbidden. Yes, that’s right: I deep-heartedly loathe Forbidden. My God, what is Forbidden an immense crap band! Their comeback album ‘Omega Wave’ proves my point. We had to wait for this album no less than thirteen years. And the results of this album leaves me with no other conclusion than the following statement: “God damn, why did these fuckers split up back in 1997? I hate them. I hate them for being split up for so long and prove they still kick mighty thrash-ass in 2010. How many great albums have we thrash heads missed in the past decade? Shame on you, Forbidden!”
Since they reunited in 2007 they mainly worked on their stage shows, but since the response of the audience was so good and the guys had so much fun in Forbidden again, the idea of making a new album started to grow. Between the idea and the final result of the album was a lengthy gap of two years, but listening to this album it’s clear that Forbidden didn’t take hasty decisions and demanded only the best of themselves. Forbidden is fucking evil again!
Of course, their third and fourth album (‘Distortion’ from 1994 and ‘Green’ (1997)) didn’t had the impact of their first two albums (‘Forbidden Evil’ (1988) and ‘Twisted Into Form’ (1990)). Especially on ‘Green’ they started to integrate ingredients from the then upcoming groove metal, and that wasn’t a good thing for their popularity index. But ‘Omega Wave’ is a more than glorious return to the powerful thrash monsters of the first two albums. The original vocals of Russ ‘Yabba The Hut’ Anderson, the thunderous thrash riffs, the catchy complexity: hot damn, I almost forgot how great Forbidden was. And still is! ‘Omega Wave’ is evil, twisted, and raw! Therefore this is the album Forbidden should have made after ‘Twisted Into Form’. The fact that one of the two original guitarists and also the original drummer are replaced by Steve Smyth (ex-Testament, ex-Nevermore etc.) and Mark Hernandez (Demonica, ex-Heathen) respectively doesn’t make a difference. Or maybe in a good way, because that guy Hernandez appears to be an incredible drummer. Holy crap, just listen to the thunderous drum storms during the intro of ‘Dragging My Casket’!
More than one hour long Forbidden proves not only their relevancy and their right to existence, but also they’re immediately one of the leaders again in the melodic thrash scene. Fantastic riffs (Craig Locicero rules!), exhilarating solo’s (Craig Locicero rules again!), catchy and exciting vocals (forget Anderson’s hobby band Parking Lot Prophets, here’s the real deal!), spectacular drums (why didn’t I know this Hernandez before?), superb and pounding production (Craig Locicero rules once more, now together with Tim Narducci: a mate from Craigs other band SpiralArms) and all this in Forbiddens unique and recognizable Bay Area thrash style. Last month my colleague Nima compared the wild dogs from Bonded By Blood with Forbidden’s debut album. I have to say that their ‘Exiled To Earth’ is surely an enjoyable piece of Bay Area-influenced thrash, but their mentors smashed that album completely to smithereens. That's not the first time, because no matter how much fun it is to hear relatively new thrash acts as Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust, Warbringer, Skeletonwitch, Evile and all those others, it’s clear that the old guards still dictate the thrash globe. However, if you think The Big Four are still Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, then start listening again, because these days the kings of classic thrash are Exodus, Heathen, Death Angel and now also Forbidden! With Forbidden’s surprisingly fresh and inspired comeback the revival of the second wave of the Bay Area Thrash metal has now reached its full growth. So welcome back Forbidden, welcome back in the Premier League of thrash metal!
Evil Dr. Smith diagnoses: 92/100
via http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/