Forbidden - Song by Song

[Jack the Stripper]

I actually quite enjoy Forbidden. Much more than I originally did anyway. Iommi kills on this album. Lots of good heavy riffs, great solos and well crafted songs with a good amount of variation.

Again though, like Cross Purposes, not many memorable vocal hooks and melodies from Martin to get attached to and his range had really started to desert him by this stage. But the cheese and AOR is really toned down which is good thing. The production and mix seems to be a bug-bearer of most but besides the drum sound it’s never bothered me too much. If Born Again is the poster album for bad mix/production then Forbidden is more than adequate.

I think “Kiss of Death” is one of the if not the best song of the Martin era. Killer track.

Overall Rating 6.0/10

Song Rankings

1. Kiss Of Death
2. Can’t Get Close Enough
3. Guilty As Hell
4. I Won’t Cry For You
5. Shaking off the Chains
6. Forbidden
7. Get A Grip
8. Rusty Angels
9. Sick And Tired
10. The Illusion of Power

Besides the standout Kiss of Death I find these songs really hard to rank. No real bad ones at all on Forbidden but some pretty bland vocal melodies I must say.

[Scott]

Iommi had reached back to a 'simpler' riff writing style that recalled some of his work in the early 70s, it's an underrated element here IMO.

As for the production, well, the rough mix that circulates as a bootleg (from Cozy's tapes) has a better mix. It's a bit on the bassy side and is missing two songs, but it was a cool 'what might have been' at least until the announcement of the remix.