Forbidden - Omega Wave

Omega Wave is, quite literally, just what the title implies: a crushing wave of unrelenting thrash metal that could snap your neck just as easily as it could drown you. What we have here on Forbidden’s fifth full-length since 1988’s Forbidden Evil is a speeding train of head-bashing tunes fit for any true metalhead.

What I’m hearing here on Omega Wave after “Forsaken at the Gates” is a faster Nevermore, complete with sweeping guitar work at the track’s beginning and harsh vocals combined with Warrel Dane-like crooning and vocalizing. Possibly the addition of former Nevermore touring guitarist Steve Smyth has something small to do with the overall guitar sound, but whatever it is Forbidden is back with a vengeance! I was immediately impressed with “Overthrow” as a follow-up to the “Forsaken at the Gates,” but I use much trepidation these days when it comes to an album as a generous whole. Forbidden hasn’t let me down in this regard; the riffs and vocal arrangement throughout are precisely what thrash metal should embody, especially in Russ Anderson’s powerful, yet casual approach to the tracks. He has actually gotten much better with age, finding a channel between his own style, Dane and Testament’s Chuck Billy that could be a serious contender for my Top 10 of 2010 at year’s end.

The amazing double-bass drumming in “Adapt or Die” bellows out of the speakers like a plethora of rubber baseballs being fired from a machine gun with blind rapidity into a paneled wall; it’s just some of the finer drumming on a thrash album, reminding me of Van Williams of Nevermore and some early Vio-Lence (considering Mark Hernandez once bashed for them might add to that assumption, yes?). Gene Hoglan is always a hard act to follow, but Hernandez does just that and more.

Throughout the album I am amazed at how well Forbidden has moved into the two-thousand-tens with every bit of old-school rage and new school sensibility required to make older bands quite vital in the present era. Even in slower tracks like “Swine” we hear the crunching power chords barrel their way into the eardrums, creating a moody, yet elevating tapestry of speedy time changes and thrash vocal perfection. I truly didn’t think I’d ever find anything that could beat Forbidden Evil or Twisted Into Form, but in all sincerity I think this might be Forbidden’s best work, and that says a lot considering how high in regard I hold those early albums.

The band has also grown lyrically, especially evident in the title track, paying close attention to impending doom and despair through personal ineptitude and casual indifference to external stimuli. Where many bands focus on one theme conducive to their respective fame or past images, growing and amplifying topical visions that run the cerebral gamut are always welcomed by this writer. Forbidden doesn’t get caught in a rut here; the song Dragging My Casket sounds like it might call upon Obituary or Death, but it is a surprise in that it’s slower and reliant more on creating a mood of literally dragging your coffin to your final end. It calls upon the visual of Jesus of Nazareth being forced to carry his own implement of torture and death through crowded streets, and it works perfectly! The feel is there through defiant guitar work and somber, almost lethargic vocals that not only create the mood but force you into visual subjugation.

This is one of the albums I’m going to be considering at year’s end for sure, and you should also consider picking this up and becoming as enchanted as you might possibly be because the music is incredible!                 

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*Comments:

October 29, 2010

Reviewer: Chris

Release Date: October 26, 2010
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Alpha Century
2.  Forsaken at the Gates
3.  Overthrow
4.  Adapt or Die
5.  Swine
6.  Chatter
7.  Dragging My Casket
8.  Hopenosis
9.  Immortal Wounds
10.  Behind The Mask
11.  Inhuman Race
12.  Omega Wave

Total playing time:  1:01:33