FORBIDDEN - more song commentry

2010-05-11 - Reactivated San Francisco Bay Area thrashers FORBIDDEN continue their work at Sonic Room/Audio Voyage Studios in Livermore, California recording their fifth studio album, "Omega Wave". Guitarist Steve Smyth checks in with the following update:
"We began Day 3 going straight back into ‘Adapt Or Die,' finishing up [the] layering and got done a few hours in. I decided to move into a track called ‘Swine' next. ‘Swine' is a little different from the rest of the tracks to me, a little more on the ‘doomy' side of things, but it has more than a few surprises in there. I'm not going to give away too much here... you'll have to wait for it!

‘Swine' has some cool odd-time stuff at the intro, FORBIDDEN style, and well-arranged by Craig [Locicero] and Mark [Hernandez]! I sort of created the intro riff for this song by accident. Craig and I were jamming on some of the other songs one day, and I just happened to be noodling on something, not really thinking about anything, and he looked at me, and said ‘What's that?! Play that again!' I played it again, and we turned this from something completely unconscious on my part into the intro of the song pretty quickly! Mark and Craig brought some odd-time and arrangement ideas into it from there, and the rest of the song came right into it. Awesome! I'm a huge fan of things happening like that. The riff I'm talking about has the influence of Randy Rhoads and Sabbath in it, no doubt from my years of playing a lot of that stuff in my Ozzy/Sab tribute Sweet Leaf. A very dark, eerie-sounding (I hope!) arpeggiated pattern that has a moving bass line underneath it as well. Back to tracking: we started from here, and got the flow going, and moved on through the track, noting certain places where I would put some layered stuff in later, as I wanted to bring out the eerie arpeggio section as much as possible.

"Once this was done, I wanted to move into another song I had a bit more of a hand in writing as well, a song called ‘Behind The Mask.' This one starts off heavy and moody, and does not let up for a long time! Very heavy pounding metal with a lot of peaks and valleys, as well as a killer chorus that Craig came up with for this one, which absolutely is heavy as hell, and jumps around the beat; a little tricky, but grooves like a mofo!

"Again, I don't want to give away the farm on this one, but there's some really cool stuff I came up with in the bridge that I hope you'll all dig on; lots of melody in this section, and not the type of instrument or style I think was ever heard on a FORBIDDEN record, but rest assured, I kept it heavy! We ended the day with this track, and moved into the next day from there... I was exhausted, but stoked as f*** that I got both of these tunes happily where I wanted them."

	FORBIDDEN - Craig Locicero issues update! 2012-04-09 00:00 - FORBIDDEN founding member / guitarist / songwriter Craig Locicero has issued the following update: Details
	FORBIDDEN - "Omega Wave" now available ... 2012-03-08 05:00 - FORBIDDEN’s “Omega Wave” for Xbox 360™ is now available for purchase from your gaming console at the RockBand Network’s online store. The track comes from the album of the ... Details
	FORBIDDEN: "OMEGA WAVE" NOW ON ROCKBAND 2012-02-27 00:00 - FORBIDDEN’s “Omega Wave” for Xbox 360™ is now available for purchase from your gaming console at... Details
	“BONDED BY BALOFF” ON-TRACK TO BE SOLD-OUT 2012-01-31 00:00 - With a very special All Ages show marking the 10-year anniversary of former EXODUS singer Paul “Pavel” Baloff’s passing, “Bonded By Baloff: A Decade Of Remembrance”... Details
	NEW FORBIDDEN DRUMMER FEATURED IN DRUM! 2012-01-25 00:00 - Sasha Horn, newly crowned drummer for reunited Bay Area thrash metal band FORBIDDEN (once home to well-known skinsman Paul Bostaph), has been featured in... Details
	EXODUS & FORBIDDEN COMMENT ON PAUL BALOFF 2012-01-13 00:00 - EXODUS and FORBIDDEN are just two of the bands from the now infamous Bay Area thrash metal scene who will be performing at the special show marking the 10-year anniversary... Details
	FORBIDDEN'S STEVE SMYTH: NAMM SCHEDULE 2012-01-13 00:00 - FORBIDDEN lead guitarist Steve Smyth will be participating in the following Artist Signing Sessions and Meet-and-Greet appearances at this year’s... Details
	OMEGA WAVE Podcast: Video From Occupy Oakland 2011-11-15 00:00 - Craig Locicero, guitarist & songwriter for the Bay Area thrash band FORBIDDEN and co-host of the Omega Wave Podcast, attended the Occupy Oakland... Details
	FORBIDDEN ANNOUNCE NEW DRUMMER 2011-10-31 00:00 - Craig Locicero, Russ Anderson, Matt Camacho, and Steve Smyth of the Bay Area thrash band FORBIDDEN are proud to make the following announcement... Details
	DRUMMER CHRIS KONTOS ON ΩMEGA WAVE PODCAST 2011-10-19 00:00 - The latest installment of Craig Locicero of FORBIDDEN’s Ωmega Wave podcast hosted former-Machine Head, former-Testament/current Spiral Arms & Attitude Adjustment drummer... Details