FORBIDDEN

Well this was a disappointment. The Martin-formula was completely depleted by then. Sabbath even sounded directionless and rather pathetic in their attempt to win some street credibility back by bringing in Ice-T and by applying production values that were probably meant to sound rough and contemporary but that come off flat and dry. Or is that due to the uninspired performance here? Hard to say what is to blame most.

This still has a few sparse moments that are listenable: Can't get close enough, I won't cry for you (damn those cheesy titles alone...) and Kiss of Death. So I will keep the one star verdict in the closet as that is reserved for albums that can't get one single note in the right place. Still it's rather 2 black holes then 2 stars.

(EDIT 10 dec 2009: After doing an entire Sabbath catalogue walk-true I'll need to bring it down to 1 star.)