Forbidden (Black Sabbath album)

Forbidden followed lineup changes in the band: Geezer Butler was replaced by Neil Murray and Cozy Powell returned in the immediate aftermath of 1994's Cross Purposes tour. Writing and rehearsals took place at Bluestone Farm in Wales, ahead of recording at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, in December 1994. According to a July 1995 interview by Tony Iommi for the Boston radio station WBCN, the album took ten days to record. It was launched in June 1995.[5]

Musically, the release draws on traditional heavy metal, power metal and influences from blues. Ernie C of the rap metal band Body Count produced, recorded and mixed the album.[4] The opening track, "The Illusion of Power", features Body Count member Ice-T[4] delivering a spoken word part during the bridge.

"We were pushed into a corner," explained Tony Iommi. "Somebody at the record company suggested we work with Ice-T. My reaction was, 'Who the hell is he?' But we met up and he was a nice bloke, and also a big fan of Sabbath. Ernie C ended up producing Forbidden, which was a terrible mistake. Ernie tried to get Cozy Powell to play these hip-hop-style drum parts, which quite rightly offended him. You don't tell Cozy Powell how to play drums."[6]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[7]

Forbidden was panned by critics upon its release. AllMusic's Bradley Torreano gave the album only one and a half stars, remarking that "with boring songs, awful production, and uninspired performances, this is easily avoidable for all but the most enthusiastic fan". He also stated that he considered it a "sad state of affairs" given the band's long history.[4] Blender magazine called Forbidden "an embarrassment ... the band's worst album".[8]

Band members have since spoken about their mixed opinions of the album. Vocalist Tony Martin made known his feelings in an interview in July 2011, during which he stated: "Well, Forbidden is... I want to say 'crap', but it's actually not". He added that he thought the songs worked in rehearsals, but other factors, such as rumours of a reunion of the original Black Sabbath line-up and the record company wanting to "take [the album] and see what Ice-T wanted to do", gave the album a "distinct ill feeling". Martin also maintained that he never believed a "Run-D.M.C. type"/"Rap Sabbath" album would work.[9] Rob Zombie gave some lighter praise at the launch, stating "There is one easy way to figure out the lasting power of Black Sabbath. There's always certain bands that get a great reaction and Black Sabbath is always one of them."[5] In regards to the subsequent original line-up reunion, Martin has also said Forbidden was a "filler album that got the band out of the label deal, rid of the singer, and into the reunion", but remarked that he "wasn't privy to that information at the time".[10]

Guitarist Tony Iommi has admitted to Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross that he was "not happy" with Forbidden. He elaborated by saying, "We brought in Ernie C to do production, which was a bit difficult really, because I had to leave him to it… One of the problems was we weren't all there at the same time, when we were writing it. Cozy and Neil were still contracted to do other stuff, so it ended up with just Tony Martin, Geoff Nicholls and myself just jamming around and putting ideas down. It all came together very quickly and we didn't have time to reflect: make sure it was the right songs and the right way of doing it."[11] Iommi reiterated his dissatisfaction with the album to the Birmingham Mail newspaper.[12]

On 4 March 2016, Iommi discussed future re-releases of the Tony Martin-era catalogue. He explained: "We've held back on the reissues of those albums because of the current Sabbath thing with Ozzy Osbourne, but they will certainly be happening... I'd like to do a couple of new tracks for those releases with Tony Martin... I'll also be looking at working on Cross Purposes and Forbidden."[13] In 2019, Iommi said he was working on a remix of Forbidden "on and off" with Mike Exeter.[14] 

On 14 May 2020, during an interview with Eddie Trunk, Iommi revealed that the remix of the album was complete and he was just waiting for "the right time" to re-release the album.[15]

Black Sabbath

• Tony Iommi – guitars
• Tony Martin – vocals
• Cozy Powell – drums
• Neil Murray – bass
• Geoff Nicholls – keyboards

Additional musicians

• Ice-T – additional vocals on "The Illusion of Power"

Production

• Ernie C – producer, engineer, mixing at Ridge Farm Studio, UK
• Bobby Brooks – engineer, mixing
• Andrea Wright, Phill Luff – assistant engineers
• Geoff Pesche – mastering at Townhouse Studios, London

• Forbidden at Discogs (list of releases)