The last album of Bay Area thrashers Forbidden was released back in 1997 under the title “Green”, after the release of which the band dissolved. In 2007 Forbidden reunited touring all over the world for a year and then they went to work on their new album. 2 years later the new album is ready and the title of it is “Omega Wave”! The band does not consist of the full original line-up, since Steve Smyth (ex-Testament.ex-Nevermore) is on the guitar and Mark Hernandez (Demonica, ex-Heathen) is on drums, who anyways complete a good new line up along with the well known – since the beginning of Forbidden- Rus Anderson on vocals, Graig Locicero on guitar and Matt Camacho on bass.

I had great anxiety to hear the album and my expectations were even greater. Honestly, I was expecting Forbidden to release a killer fast and angry album. Unfortunately, I was disappointed, as actually only 2 tracks are really thrash, “Forsaken at the gates” and “Adapt Or Die”, and ok, some parts of another 2 tracks, “Hopenosis” and “Omega Wave”. The rest songs of the album are slow and mid-tempo overrunning five minutes each, which them tiring and finally boring. The thing that really impressed me is that there is a lot of influence from Testament and it’s ok as far as Steve Smyth, because he has been part of Testament for some time, but what about Rus Anderson? Anderson just sings the songs without giving them something more and he even has more brutal vocal lines, like –I’d say- Testament’s Chuck Billy, while there are no high pitched vocals, which used to be Anderson’s trademark.

After the reunion, one would expect that Forbidden would release an aggressive and more brutal record blowing our minds away, but they just didn’t. Despite that, I will suggest to all Bay Area thrash fans who like Forbidden to give “Omega Wave” a try , because for a fan of the genre it is really a ‘must’ to listen to this comeback record.