Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627546965710/
Next up, a band of original bay area thrashers, well most of them anyway due to line up changes; Forbidden! I love this band and have been a fan for a very long time. Throughout my encouragable youth, Forbidden Evil was one of the vinyls played on cycle at my house, and so it’s safe to say I was close to pissing myself before they came on.
The sky threatened to ruin my day/camera though, with sporadic fine showers and dark clouds constantly teasing. But fortunately nothing seemed to escalate, and so it only aided the macabre aura in the air ready for Forbidden. The interlude of music playing through the P.A system abruptly faded, a hysterical amount of smoke erupted from the smoke machines, and a tiny globule of urine left my penis. It was time.
The band ran onto the stage greeted by thunderous applause, and immediately kicked into a tremendously accurate rendition of March into Fire off their debut album Forbidden Evil. Tracks from Twist into Form and their most recent album Omega Force were also present, thus giving a history lesson in thrash, whilst simultaneously predicting the future of metal.
The old songs were played precisely, energetically, and as enthusiastically as they had been back in their 80’s and early 90’s commercial peaks. However, the head banging monstrosities taken from Omega Force threw Forbidden onto a whole new level. Passionately clutching the rulebook of thrash close to their hearts, while rewriting certain chapters to translate archaic texts, these new tracks had the audience close to shitting themselves. Half of those who follow Forbidden religiously knew what was coming, but those who only came for the classics went through a series of extremities – SHOCK, FEAR, ACCEPTANCE, ANGER, JOY, and BLISS.
Omega Force is the album to have played on repeat, in your car, on your mp3 player, at home, or wherever you are, for this album is a masterpiece.
I will mention one thing though, the sheer size of front man Russ Anderson took me slightly by surprise; thrash metal has treated this man well I thought. But a sizeable singer in the realm of metal, only adds to the idea of them successfully battling the demons and terrors discussed lyrically in their songs, so the fact that Anderson was carrying a few extra stone, could only be seen as a positive.
And so, Forbidden left the stage to hungry chants of “WE WANT MORE”, after proving to the metal world, that they are not only a force to be reckoned with, but one of the best thrash bands around today.
9/10
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