Forbidden (Crystal Vinyl)

FORBIDDEN’s legacy is one of being the youngest, hungriest and most ambitious of the Bay Area brethren that has launched metal paradigm-shifters from Metallica to Machine Head.

With a reconstituted lineup, guitarist Craig Locicero and bassist Matt Camacho, have crafted an hour-plus masterpiece of thrashy predilection, emotive musical movements, and progscraping sonic ambitions. From the intensity of opening track, “Single Point Failure” to the philosophical shades of 9-minute closer, “Flower of Life”, this is FORBIDDEN not merely stretching beyond the steely foundations of 1988’s classic Forbidden Evil or the quantum leap of 1990’s Twisted Into Form, but the sound of a band with a new sense of scope and purpose.

Produced by Zach Ohren (Machine Head), Forbidden isn’t merely a revival for quintet whose membership has included players from Machine Head, Voivod and Imagika, but full-blown reinvigoration and purgative endpoint for this Bay Area metal institution