Green

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.