FORBIDDEN: Pacifica Photos Posted Online

Photos of the May 22, 2009 concert by reactivated San Francisco Bay Area metallers FORBIDDEN at the Octopus Lounge in Pacifica, California can be found at this location (all photos by Alan Ralph).

FORBIDDEN is performing its 1990 album "Twisted Into Form" in its entirety on the band's current European tour. Guitarist Craig Locicero said in a recent online posting, "What we hope to accomplish on this run of shows is to kind of, close the book on just the past and move into the future with a great sense of what made us tick in the first place. Kinda giving all we have to the fans who let us come back into their lives again after being gone for so long."

FORBIDDEN's current lineup includes two recent additions, guitarist Steve Smyth (ex-NEVERMORE, TESTAMENT) and drummer Mark Hernandez (HEATHEN, DEFIANCE, RE:IGNITION).

The band has spent the past few weeks working on several new tracks which will appear on FORBIDDEN's next studio album, tentatively due in 2010. According to Locicero, "The two songs we chose to record [during the recent pre-production sessions] are very much in the melodic thrash genre that we evolved into on 'Twisted Into Form'. Keep in mind, we have a lot more material then we've recorded and are going to keep writing until we think we've got more then enough. There will be all kinds of songs and we intend on showing our fans some new tricks up our sleeve as well. But probably the most important element that makes it FORBIDDEN is Russ's [Anderson] vocals. I can tell you all right now that Russ is singing his ass off! He sounds great and has as much power and range as I've heard out of him in years. Not like Russ is a kid with brand new bright and shiny vocal cords, but like a man who has his confidence and self-awareness back. I think people forget that he didn't sing metal like FORBIDDEN in over a dozen years. When I see the greatest singers in metal like Halford, Dio, Dickinson and so on...they all have had changes in their voices that were gradual and people watched them over a long period of time. So, everyone grew with them and got used to it. With Russ, he was there, then he went away for a dozen years. Then he was back and most people expect exactly the same as they remember, which is understandable. But it's also completely unrealistic. It took some time time find his voice again. Consider it found!"

The band's last studio LP, "Green", was released in 1997 on the G.U.N. label.

For more information, visit the band's official MySpace page.

Professionally filmed video footage of FORBIDDEN's June 28, 2008 performance at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium can be viewed below (clip uploaded by YouTube user "Sebastos1").