Review Summary: A tale of two mixes
Drawing parallels to the era-ending fatigue of 1978’s Never Say Die, 1995’s Forbidden was Black Sabbath’s seeming final sign of defeat. The prior year’s Cross Purposes was a solid effort with traces of legitimacy that were snuffed out once Geezer Butler jumped ship, deeming the band a dead horse as he joined the post-‘retirement’ Ozzmosis and put together a modern iteration of his own solo project. This would leave Tony Iommi once more holding the reins but with the original lineup’s inevitable reunion no doubt set in motion, one can imagine he was done playing the fearless leader turned underdog.
But even in the face of this pressure to move on and get with the times, the style here really isn’t that much different. Cross Purposes picked up a certain street metal grit that Forbidden pushes further as tracks like “Get A Grip” and “Shaking Off The Chains” have a cynical bite to their uptempo hard rock shifts. The associations with Body Count are noticeable but frankly exaggerated; Ernie C’s production provides a thin haze to the proceedings and Ice-T’s cameo on “The Illusion of Power” is basically just chorus backing and a brief spoken bridge in the midst of the crushing doom riffs. Iommi’s riffing is far too intricate and singer Tony Martin’s croon still too AOR-rooted for any potential groove or nu metal nonsense creeping in.
Speaking of Martin, the performances here make it easy to imagine how shafted the other musicians must’ve felt. Perhaps some dork out there was excited to see the lineup that made 1990’s Tyr back together but it feels more like Iommi just wanted to work with people he already knew so he didn’t have to remember any new names. The drums and vocals have enough natural talent behind them to keep the songs solid and in tune, but the former are too apathetic to do anything too flashy while the latter seem to be deliberately holding back. You won’t really find anything too egregious but songs like “Guilty as Hell” and “Sick and Tired” sure do live up to their titles.
In a bit of irony, the album’s underlying detachment combined with the lyrics getting increasingly frustrated allows some compelling moments to peak through. This is especially true of the album’s ballads as each one offers a distinct character, “Can’t Get Close Enough” really leans into the haze with a somber set of chugs while “I Won’t Cry For You” is an attempt at bombast with a distraught edge. By the time that swelling climax on the closing “Kiss Of Death” kicks in, that persistent sense of everybody being so thoroughly done with this *** has turned into bitter triumph.
These factors have been accepted as part of Forbidden’s narrative for thirty years now but I don’t think the true scope of its tragedy could truly be comprehended until its long-rumored remix surfaced in 2024. Granted better production won’t improve a shaky foundation but there’s no denying how much the writing benefits from a fuller drum sound and a thicker guitar tone in place of the ghostly brittleness. Even the vocals have an emotional overhaul as a clearer mix reveals a vulnerability that the original presentation buried in smoky layers, all without changing a note!
With Forbidden having been all but directly set up to fail, it isn’t too surprising for it to come out as one of Black Sabbath’s most underwhelming efforts. It’s arguably enjoyable on a base level with a couple songs standing out, but the phoned in nature makes for disinterested performances and autopilot songwriting. The remix isn’t a miracle cure by any means but it provides a stronger glimpse of what could have been. There’s genuine emotion beneath the surface and the bluesy tinges make it easy to imagine something closer to The Eternal Idol had the material been given some proper time and care. An album like Born Again can be happy in its malformed state, but Forbidden deserved better than it got.
3/5 for the original 1995 mix, 4/5 for the 2024 remix
