Always Leave 'Em Wanting More? (Forbidden - Black Sabbath)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Forbidden - Black Sabbath
Date:	21/02/08 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Breaks away from the tedious style built up in previous albums.

Disadvantages: Doesn't replace it with anything particularly good, and there's a really bad Ice T guest appearance.

Whatever the future may hold, 'Forbidden' is still the last album of original works released by Black Sabbath before older line-ups reunited and became something of a tribute band to their first six albums. This is a particularly low note to go out on, admitted by all as a mere contractual obligation cobbled together hastily, and one that really shows. Despite boasting the same line-up as the almost-classic 'Headless Cross' and 'Tyr' albums, it completely fails to recapture that era's dark and epic sound, instead going for more straightforward hard rock on a series of whims. While this inevitably leads to a distinctly mediocre or even sub-par album of unremarkable, unmemorable tracks, it does at least offer a refreshing break from the burden of repetitive Sabbath albums like the preceding 'Cross Purposes' and injects some energy into the performance, if nothing else. It's been in my collection for a while but I think I was always a little scared to listen to it before today, and I found it pretty enjoyable.

There were very few classic Black Sabbath songs recorded in the nineties, the only ones that vaguely qualify stemming from 1992's 'Dehumanizer,' and Forbidden is the least classic of the lot. There's barely a trace of the authentic Sabbath sound as defined in their several notable periods, despite Tony Iommi's attempt to hark back with a failed evil riff in the opener 'The Illusion of Power' which ends up being the weakest song of the lot. Tony Martin's vocals not only lack the power and majesty of 'Tyr,' they don't even seem able to fit into a rhythm, and the spoken word guest appearance from then-popular Ice T is laughable, but at least he doesn't rap. Cozy Powell's drums don't dominate the proceedings as they did on 'Tyr,' but he seems similarly intent on getting noticed by screwing around and failing to keep a steady rhythm in a few songs, notably 'Guilty as Hell' and the overlong, failed epic 'Kiss of Death' that lacks any sense of structural cohesion, and not in the way early Black Sabbath did so memorably.

It isn't all bad though, and most songs are entertaining, though certainly not aimed at the traditional Sabbath fans who will probably just be offended. There's an upbeat, almost punk sensibility in the guitars and vocals of 'Get a Grip' and 'Rusty Angels,' a couple of the best songs here, and other songs like 'Shaking off the Chains,' 'Forbidden' and 'Loser Gets it All' manage to be fun and catchy in a way a lot of late Sabbath didn't manage, particularly boring albums like 'The Eternal Idol.' I'm tempted to give the album three stars, but then I'd really be lying, and my main praise is still based around this not being as bad as I was led to believe. The mellower side of the album is handled by 'I Won't Cry for You' and the lazy, bluesy 'Sick and Tired,' neither of which descend into the realm of the power ballad (presumably the record company knew that chart success for a contrived single would be unlikely), and the album ends up being quite a fun but mediocre shambles that I'd listen to above 'Seventh Star' and 'The Eternal Idol' any day. At least I say that now, a second listen would probably reveal this to be much worse.

1. The Illusion of Power
2. Get a Grip
3. Can't Get Close Enough
4. Shaking off the Chains
5. I Won't Cry for You
6. Guilty as Hell
7. Sick and Tired
8. Rusty Angels
9. Forbidden
10. Kiss of Death
11. Loser Gets it All

Summary: Black Sabbath's eighteenth studio album (1995).