After a couple of weeks of not-metal, Forbidden‘s eponymous album ran rampant all over my amygdala, hitting all the pleasure centers a lifetime of Thrash nurtured. Forbidden (BLKIIBLK) storms out, no intro, no easing you in, just pulse-pounding, adrenaline-pumping old-school Thrash. Upon consulting the press kit, it turns out that Forbidden’s influences from Metallica, Metal Church, Overkill, Testament, Slayer, and so many more can’t be hidden, because the band itself goes back to the halcyon days of the mid-eighties when Thrash became a thing.