Review Summary: Uncompromising and heavy thrash at its finest!
Formed in 1985 amidst a sea of other thrash bands, Forbidden were instrumental in building upon the thrash metal formula. They are often considered part of the second wave of thrash bands, and were originally formed as "Forbidden Evil" but shortened their name in fear of being labeled as a death metal band. At the time of their debut, Forbidden was a five piece band. The band played a very basic style of thrash for their debut, but would incorporate more melodic and progressive elements into their future releases. Their 1988 debut is often considered a cult classic among fans, and is generally well received by critics.
The album cover pictures red and blue skulls crashing into each other, with a city sky-line in the background. Unlike a lot of other thrash album covers, this one is actually kind of cool. The album kicks off with the incredibly heavy and powerful track "Chalice of Blood" and just from the first few seconds, one can start to gather whats in store for this album. The second the song starts, all the instruments come into play; heavy guitars, loud drums, and of course a very high pitched yell from the vocalist, Russ Anderson. One immediately gets a sense that this is THE music to mosh too.
Russ Anderson has a very good range for a thrash singer. A lot of people would even go so far as to compare him to Joey Belladonna. The truth is that that while he can certainly hold a note with the best of them, it doesn't end there. Russ comes off as very pissed off and full of energy and it couldn't sound more metal. Lyrical Content is very socially aware, and deals with many issues such as religion, suicide, and psychological problems. Some people may be turned off from his high pitched yells, but it all comes down to preference. I feel as if Russ does a great job and really brings the most out of these songs with his sinister vocals.
On guitars we have the talented Glenn Alvelais, and Craig Locicero. The Duo sounds the best when they are soloing in tracks such as "Through Eyes Of Glass" and "Forbidden Evil". but that's not saying that they don't write some really heavy and impressive riffs. I would compare these guys to Exodus's Gary Holt and Rick Hunolt. The guitars are also the loudest part of this album, which is fine as long they sound good, and they in fact sound excellent. The guitars are my favorite part of this album.
Matt Comacho is on bass. The bass really does not stand out or shine an any way. Its audible if you use a bass booster, but even then its really nothing special. I know that its thrash metal and its really not about the bass, but i would at least like it to be audible to a certain degree. Instead, the bass usually just plays along with the louder guitars, and does anything to stand out.
The extremely talented Paul Bostaph of Slayer fame, played drums for this album. This is before we knew him from "Divine Intervention". The drums are very fast, loud, and consistent. There are really no downsides to the drums whatsoever. They never let up, Paul is just hammering away the entire album. He does a great job of holding it all together. Just thrash drumming at its finest.
Forbidden certainly made every possible effort to capture the live essence of the band, and it worked perfectly. Its hard to believe that this was the bands debut, the band sounds like seasoned veterans. After listening to this album i can certainly see why so many thrash fans hold them in high esteem. If you haven't already, give this album a listen. This album is perfect for fans of thrash metal.
Russ Anderson - vocals
Glen Alvelais - guitars
Craig Locicero - guitars
Matt Comacho - bass
Paul Bostaph - drums
Produced by John Cuniberti, Doug Caldwell
Recorded: 1988
Released: September 30, 1988
Combat Records (1988)
Relativity Records (1992)
