Forbidden - Forbidden Evil
Combat
Thrash Metal
8 songs (42:43)
Release year: 1988
Forbidden
Reviewed by Thomas

Forget the easily accessible Metallica and the political Megadeth, forget the hyper-fast Slayer and the speedy Anthrax. Enter Forbidden, the widely overlooked thrash metal heroes who unleashed the undeniable classic Forbidden Evil on the unsuspecting crowd in 1988. This band never got the recognition they deserved, far from it. In inner metal circles this is however a band that has now faded but is not nearly forgotten as one of the best short-lived thrash acts back in the heyday of the eighties. Forbidden crawled up from the bottom, cracking a deal with combat records (which later proved a bad idea), building a positive reputation, especially as a live band, and then releasing this properly. Among releases such as Flotsam & Jetsam’s No Place For Disgrace, Heathen’s Breaking the Silence, Testament’s The New Order and Slayer’s South of Heaven, Forbidden Evil succeeds in standing out as one of the absolute best of the lot. The line-up known as “The Classic Line-up” pounds, chops, and rips its way through every single obstacle in their path with building intensity and with one goal in sight. To give you the thrashing of a life-time.

There are little to say that haven’t already been mentioned by countless other reviewers, fans and even members of other bands. This didn’t start anything particularly new or groundbreaking; it did however stand out as one of the most dynamic and hybrid thrash releases to date. They’re also blending in their technical abilities to give it more of the crushing power, and well, every member is shining bright throughout the whole record, not taking any prisoners nor leaving any survivors. They’re never exaggerating, nor do they fail on their attempts to create big and furious songs out to slam your beat-up body into the nearest wall of bricks. From the first blasting moment of the opener Chalice of Blood, chopping riffs are on the attack, while Russ Anderson’s magnificent wailing commands your neck into total exhaustion. The remarkable vocal work varies between high-pitched falsettos and lower, angrier snarls, and he manages to combine the two through faster passages which sounds great. It is however the great guitar-work that grabs you at first. Glen Alvelais and Craig Locicero’s riff and solo trade-offs, drives this beast forward with great power, a fierce and crunchy sound and the desirably fast speed which will leave you rotting like a pulverized roadkill when they’re done with you. The riffs are bombastic and explosive, entertainingly diverse, and not the least assaulting everything in its way. Their songwriting is excellent, and easily exceeds tons of the stuff other and bigger bands released. In addition to this, the skilled guitarists really know how to create lively solos, maybe only exceeded by the guitar-duo in Heathen. They’re clean yet fast and furious and there is nothing show-off or arrogance over them whatsoever, downright excellent playing. Future Slayer-drummer, Paul Bostaph is completing this in every area with his aggressive pounding, defined beats and exciting fills. He’s perfecting the already rock solid from moment one which is so important in this genre. Just like Lombardo does it in Slayer and Tom Hunting does it exceptionally with Exodus, Bostaph does an equally great job driving this machinery stomping forward with crushing blasts.

Even though this was released in the later eighties, this could easily have been one of the pioneering records within more technical thrash metal. Forbidden Evil is essential for any thrash fan with his honor intact. This contains everything a proper thrash release should contain and a little extra. It’s fast, vicious, technical, it has blistering songwriting, the vocals are magnificent and the overall neck-breaking value is top notch. The utter and complete shame, as with Heathen, is that they never got the recognition they so clearly deserved and still deserve. This is a record that shouldn’t go unheard of, and I promise you that the first time you’ll listen to it; you’re in for a beating. Forbidden know how to balance everything. Their instruments flows well along with the vocals, the interaction between the instruments is flawless. The shifts in tempo and intensity will give any hater their desired amount of variation as this always seem to be a problem. Not here my good sirs. Not here.

Killing Songs :
Chalice of Blood, Through Eyes of Glass, Forbidden Evil, March Into Fire, Follow Me
Thomas quoted CLASSIC
Other albums by Forbidden that we have reviewed:
Forbidden - Omega Wave reviewed by Goat and quoted 85 / 100
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