Green

Yeah, that one was a dud. One that few people noticed at the time it came out; first, cause it was released by a band who never really made it to the very upper echelons of the metal roster; very unjustly mind you... and second cause everyone was shooting duds left and right at the time. Yep, it was a dud time the mid-90’s, to the point that if there was someone who wanted to break the dud supply with something more visionary and creative, he would have been instantly targeted by the social consciousness, then squashed, stultified and ultimately stampeded by it.

Nah, our Bay-Area heroes wanted no trouble with the groovy authorities who let them live after the adaptational but cool “Distortion”, showing the band on the apt side of this transformation campaign alongside Anthrax, Kreator, Coroner... and it did make sense, if you think of it, this testing of nu… sorry, new waters, with each of these outfits crossing the magnum opus off their lists with the immediate predecessors, Forbidden doing this with the exceptional “Twisted into Form”.

The thing is that three years later the form gets twisted in most predictable ways, with very few if at all lining up to check what the final result has amounted to. Although hardly anyone was expecting Russ Anderson and Co. to rise and produce another prog-thrash masterpiece in the midst of the numetal fever, the album reviewed here is such a banal derivative fare that one would struggle to find even a single note to make an allusion to the band’s first two. There’s still a plus side to this predictable groovy post-thrash parade, the title-track and “Phat”, two hectic nervy numbers played back-to-back at the beginning, misleading everyone with their on-the-verge-of-actual-thrash demeanour, the latter cast aside by the unpardonably clumsy dragger “Turns to Rage”, with some rage indeed popping up on “Face Down Heroes”, but this is a pasture for panteras and machine heads, the nu kids on the block, where the colour green isn’t a verdant connotation anymore. Noisy thrashcore energizers (“Over the Middle”), more groovy rehashes (“Kanaworms”), and cumbersome bluesy/doomy blanks (“Blank”) complete the not very appealing picture, Russ Anderson shouting his lungs out cantankerously, trying his best to sound as unrecognizable as possible.

And the guys do succeed, to twist themselves into a form alienated to the max from their early feats, compromising creativity, originality and innovation for… nothing really, as by 1997 whatever surprises could have been produced within the numetal roster were already a done deal. But the thing is that the band don't even remotely try to produce anything surprising: this is so commonplace that could pass for the work of multiple other practitioners grooving in the neighbourhood at the time, both music and vocal-wise. What’s probably even more hurtful is that the album does sound at times like the musicians were taking this exercise seriously, like they really wanted to carve a niche for themselves on the wall of nu metal… and for that reason alone this effort fares less than the overtly goofy, completely unpretentious “Stomp 442” of their colleagues Anthrax, or the entirely-new-direction-bound loading/reloading Metallica sagas.

Yep, I was quite right about not bothering with this slab for a really long time… but it was green, for crying out loud… it wasn’t like pink… or velvet. A patch of green smacked in the midst of a still notorious groove/aggro campaign; one which even a whole omega wave found it hard to erase fully from the annals of music. But no shame, and no guilt please… cause I’m pretty sure Anderson and Co. have long since equipped themselves with the ultimate back-to-the-roots weapon: the alpha wave. Whenever…

Much like Testament's Demonic, Forbidden stumbled into the mid-'90s with a cantor akin to a drunkard with two left feet. Distortion singlehandedly left the band on the thinnest of ice, putting Green in an unenviable do-or-die position, and while the album seems to have received more praise than most from this period in recent years, it wasn't enough to salvage Forbidden's status as a perennial second-tier act at the time. Craig decided to call the band off shortly after this album's release, but to be frank it really is that bad. From a presentation standpoint, Green feels so '90s that it almost hurts. The strange, visually unappealing collage type cover art that was so popular during the time? Check. Silly track title wordplay like "Noncent$?" Check. Worst of all is the inclusion of eighteen minutes of silence, all to deliver an abstruse and silly "666" reference. It's just childish, period.

And the music? Well, much like Distortion this is certainly Forbidden, although a pathetically watered down and creatively truncated incarnation. The band's trademark dark, cerebral approximation of high-octane thrash seems tailor made to weather the '90s in regards to subject matter, but Russ instead muses incoherently about the usual social criticisms, eschewing the mental illness focus of classics like Twisted into Form. And of course, the manner in which his presence is amplified by proxy due to the lurching inanity of the riffage exposes his one greatest weakness: the proclivity to become extremely annoying if focused on in the wrong manner. The vocals are layered over and over again in hypnotizing cadences, constantly bleating atonally and never breaking into the stratospheric register Russ was once revered for. His voice doesn't sound quite as shot as it was on Omega Wave, but he is clearly showing his age prematurely on here. Songs like "Turns to Rage" feature vocal lines that are simply beyond irritating; absolutely not catchy in any sense of the word.

Craig's riffs feel like they are trying to break off a chunk of '90s sledgehammer grit ala Pantera and Machine Head, but unlike Overkill's more-than-decent foray into unabashed groove The Killing Kind, Green stumbles mightily, even when dealt a hand of musicians creative and boundary-testing enough to pull such an amalgamation off. "Face Down Heroes" crumbles amid a flurry of stop-start riffs that never have a chance to go anywhere, and the entire album is marred by track lengths that don't seem to fit the goal of the music within. The effect-drenched vocals are grating and convey virtually none of the tortured agony intended, coming off more like angst, but even worse a band faking the entire thing in an attempt to salvage some legitimacy from a scene that was already dead. Stupid audio samples ruin the otherwise competent "Over the Middle," erecting the final dingle berry on this shit sundae, since it is otherwise one of the faster songs.

The formerly acrobatic and progressively-inclined Forbidden were long gone by this point, making even Distortion seem competent in comparison. The licks rattled off are of the most awkward and obtuse '90s "quality," with Locicero wholly missing the target. His off-kilter and distinct playing style carried much of the band's weaker material before this, but Green proves to be too much to handle. The then-obsession with modernity and desperation completely cripple the album from front to back. Forbidden cycles through groove tropes sprinkled with a hair of thrash, but even those moments are kneecapped by the muddy guitar tone and the lack of presence they have in the mix. It's like adding insult to injury, because most '90s thrash-cum-groove exports at least had a meaty as fuck guitar tone to sell the slower, more deliberate stomp of the riffs. Don't let the revisionists fool you into wasting time with this one.

Forbidden are one of many of the vastly underrated and somewhat under-appreciated members of the thrash metal movement, a fact that saddens me as a fan of the band. Forbidden were among the best bands of their day, being both skilled but also catchy and heavy at the same time. The band would change sounds throughout each album, starting with straight up thrash speed on Forbidden Evil to technical thrash metal on Twisted into Form to progressive post thrash on Distortion and finally leading up to their final album, Green.

Green is both Forbidden's most successful and most misleading album. Anyone who listens to Green the first time is either going to love it and check out Forbidden's amazing back catalog or write the band off as another fake thrash metal band among all the others. The truth is though that this is actually, probably one of the few good albums of a dreaded genre by most metalheads, post thrash or "thrash/groove" metal. Taking away the complexities of Distortion and amping up the speed of the album once again, Forbidden's last album is one of the most underrated albums ever and is a great piece of music from a genre that largely derided by msot.
Really the most "groove" thing this album gets is the guitars. By no means does Forbidden trudge into Pantera territory completely with the music on Green. The riffs are Pantera-ish in terms of the chords used in most of them but even they are different. First of all, Forbidden has never skilled playing for the sake of a catchy groove and while Forbidden's (then) competent guitar duo of Craig Lociero and Tim Calvert take a rather laid back role (by Forbidden standards) on this album, they are way ahead of most their contemporaries in terms of skill. While tonally and progressionally these riffs aren't that complex, rhythmically they are above average, especially when compared to bands like Pantera and Machine Head at this time. Not to mention that the band plays at a faster pace then both of those bands did on most of the songs on Green. And Forbidden just blows both Pantera and Machine Head clear away in the lead guitar department, with Craig and Tim playing as good as they ever have on each and every solo. Why the hell aren't these guys getting as much acclaim as Dimebag? Oh well, guess Pantera beat them to the riff that ended up being the makeup of their song Walk.


Drumming is hardly groove metal style, with Steve Jacobs providing to be a nice time piece. Providing more then just holding the time and getting into a rhythm, Jacobs has a lot of wicked bouts of double bass bursts and some great fills on songs like Phat, the title track, Focus, and others. Over The Middle contains some signature thrash beats and Kanaworms contains a beat that can feels like it can be danced to! Utterly sick. I love the way that he plays on Green, simply because unlike one of the most overrated drummers ever (Vinnie Paul), Steve actually contributes to this bands sound in more ways then a drummer needs to and it helps a lot. He went above and beyond what needs to be done here and it overall sounds just plain sick. I have to pride him on this.

I also have to give Russ Anderson two thumbs up for his performance on this album. While Russ was in the higher pitched range of thrash singers and you would think that his voice would sound awkward in a "groove" setting, this is entirely not the case. Forbidden's vocalist voice adapts marevelously to the setting that he's been put in musically, and Russ manages to pull off what I think Rob Flynn and Phil Anselmo have hardly been able to pull off with Pantera and Machine Head. That is that Russ actually sounds legitimately angry and not like just some whiny teenager. And remarkably he seems to pull this off with the slight addition of a growl to his voice. And not to mention the facts that the vocal patterns are very catchy and make me want to sing along is great. I've never heard a chorus sound more pissed off then in the song Phat, and that's an achievement in it's own right largely due to Russ Anderson and his vocal abilities.

Forbidden has always had great lyrics, but I have to say that Green has some of the best lyrics I've ever heard. These lyrics are dark and gritty, usually touching on the topic of how society and political issues. Kanaworms is probably the best example of this, and has some of the best lyrics on the album. Phat is about political oppression, while Turns to Rage is about disliking of the government at the time. Really every song follows this general theme to an extent except for one. That song is Over the Middle. Okay this song is purely outrageous in what it is about, and definitely gets my award for one of the weirder songwriting topics ever. Some bands can write about some wacky stuff, but only Forbidden has claimed the righteous title of successfully writing lyrics about a football game. That's right, they wrote a song with lyrics about a football game. Now you think that means you should immediately write this song off as corny think again, because the lyrics are just as gritty and violent sounding as any of the other songs on Green, and the distorted vocals especially help the song along (not to mention the censors using John Madden and Chris Collinsworth sound bites are utterly hilarious).

I have to like the production of Green as well. While the guitars are rather overpowering and the bass is difficult to hear but on a few select parts throughout the album, it still sounds good. The drum tone sounds great, especially with the cymbals and tom drums though the snare doesn't have a lot of definition to it and the bass drums have this roundish kind of clicky sound but that's okay. The vocals get a good treatment for the style of the album, highlighting the grit and making things sound utterly violent, brutal, and rather depressing. The guitars have a rather typical groovish tone to them but that hardly diminishes the overall value of the album's sound thanks to the production.

The only negative thing I think about in Green is that the guitars can sound repetitive. Often they do play the same chords in just a different pattern at a different speed but I can't chide them completely for this. The riffs they make are catchy and don't necessarily have anything bad about them, but I do have to say that it can get slightly exasperating and leave me wondering where the Forbidden on "Twisted into Form" and "Distortion" went. But otherwise I give this album a good overall rating, because lets face it at the end of the day, Green is good.

This album is exactly the good example of 80's speed metal understanding fashion and moving on with their lives. All the 2nd wave thrash metal was very good - and still is - but ya know - after the coming of the 3rd wave and the 4th and others - bands like Testament and Death angel felt bored with their style. They didn't invent anything like Metallica of Anthrax did - and they weren't the latest thing after the rising of bands like Forced Entry or Agent steel. So you got some pissed off bands, and with the coming of the 90's and the seattle flash trends of lousy grunge music - All those bands were disposed from their major labels.
So Forbidden tried a new approach. After the rise of Pantera and Machine head the understand their is a new trend in town. Robb Flyn taught them well how to fit into the new style I guese - and after the release of the magnetic "Distortion" - "Green" came out. We're talking about 1997 I think - Pantera's higher days are over and Machine head are trumbling toward Nu-metal stuff after the release of the harsh "The more things change..."
So it's even quite out-dated for the new approach of that post-thrash kinda-thing.

Yet you got some really cool music in this album.

The vocals rule supreme - Andresson was one of the top vocalist of all time in my opinion - and a great preformer as well. He's like a deadly mutation of Rob Halford with Tom Araya. He got the range, he got the attitude, he got the venomous shouts - He's close to perfect for a speed metal band - but he lacks the harsh-hardcore-oriented vocals for a post-thrash band... maybe that what makes this album so neat and good beyond the regular approach to the genre.

the guitar playing is tight as hell - and the solos are over the top. Without any doubt that the playing of Tom in this album is what draws Nevermore to hire him in Dreaming Neon Black. He got the right style for it. the drumming of mister Paul are accurate and pouching.

In conclusion - for a speed metal band - this album kick major ass in this foreign genre. Post-thrash can deliver. Even delivrer.

The first word that comes to mind is: HEAVY! This album will instantly remind you of Pantera's "Vulgar Display Of Power" and former guitarist and original band founder, Robb Flynn's band Machine Head (in their early years of course). Unfortunately, the album opens with the practically worthless "What Is the Last Time?" and continues into suckdom with the yawn inducing title track. The tempo finally pick up with the stupidly titled but pretty cool "pHat". By now you'll have probably realised how different this album is from the early days of "Forbidden Evil" and "Twisted Into Form", especially in the vocal and riff department, as Russ Anderson leans more towards Phil Anselmo shouting and the riffs are total Pantera worship. Anyway, "Turns To Rage" is a slow but still brutal track highlighting Russ' new vocal style and the Machine Head groove riffs. "Face Down Heroes" is a very predictale but still decent Half-Thrash track which picks up along the way. However, it does lead into the insanely heavy and up-tempo "Over The Middle" which will certainly feed your need for faster material. Things sway back into mediocrity with two of the weakest filler tracks in the history of Forbidden's career, "Kanaworms" and "Noncent$". Total dogshit. The surprisingly melodic "Blank" and the great track closer kinda redeem them, though. Even though its dotted with some pretty fucking weak filler tracks and there are hardly any Tr00 Thrash songs to be found, Russ' new vocal style and the crushingly heavy riffs will keep you banging your head. And now, the individual intruments:

Vocals: Don't expect any of Russ' excellent falsettos on this one, expect an awesome Anselmo imitation instead! His new vocals match the guitar tone perfectly.

Guitars: Craig Locicero and Tim Calvert sound pretty good overall. The guitar tone KILLS but there are a LOT of dumbfuck Pantera reject riffs in here.

Bass: Meh. The bass here is barely audible but when you can hear it, you will really appreciate it. This guy's a pretty decent bassist but he's nothing special.

Drums: Clear, fast and techinical. Steve Jacobs is just as furious behind the kit as Paul Bastoph. Too bad, they don't have enough up-tempo tracks.

While not an essential album (the filler blows), this one is a fine release and isn't a bad exit for one of the greatest Bay Area bands of all time. I highly recommend it for all Groove Metal/Half Thrash junkies. Just don't buy it if you expect anything in the vein of their older albums.

The first thing that strikes me about Forbidden's swansong (?) is how amazingly stupid the song titles are. KANAWORMS? Noncent$? PHAT? If this is an in joke... uhh yeah... Just really stupid. This sounds nothing like Forbidden's first two (and classic) thrashterpieces... in fact Green hardly rates as thrash at all. The focus is on bludgeoningly heavy riffs ala Pantera, Pissing Razors, Machine head, etc., but much more intense. Imagine if Pantera had decent production and less guitar solos.

After a horrible and pointless opening track, the onslaught begins with "Green", a driving, machinehead influenced song (ironic since robb flynn founded Forbidden), and roars along until "blank", another pointless, awful track that kills any momentum. Russ Anderson trades his wailing falsetto for an Anselmo-esque snarl. This sucks, since Russ can sing really well. I guess Forbidden had some bills to pay.

If you have heard Testament's Demonic and Low, Green is along those lines. However, the guitar tone is absolutely face crushing... like the kind of production that makes you sit up and go "HOLY SHIT". Totally heavy, maybe a little industrial tinged... if you like modern thrash at all, and have nothing against breakdowns, you'll dig it. Thrash purists beware.