FORBIDDEN Signs With BLKIIBLK, Prepares To Release First New Album In 16 Years
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Reactivated San Francisco Bay Area metallers FORBIDDEN have signed with BLKIIBLK, the heavy metal imprint of Frontiers Label Group. The band's long-awaited follow-up to 2010's "Omega Wave" album is currently being tracked at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer/co-producer Zack Ohren for a tentative mid-2026 release.
Joining FORBIDDEN's founding guitarist Craig Locicero and bassist Matt Camacho in the band's current lineup are drummer Chris Kontos (formerly of MACHINE HEAD and ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT),guitarist Jeremy Von Epp and vocalist Norman Skinner (ex-IMAGIKA and NIVIANE).
FORBIDDEN commented: "When FORBIDDEN was 'reborn' in 2023, we knew we were going to write new music. That excited us. We also knew that we were in no rush to be signed or obligated to anything that didn't feel ideal. Well… that situation has finally revealed itself.
"We are elated to announce that FORBIDDEN has joined forces with one of our industry's biggest champions of heavy music and our old friend Mike Gitter at BLKIIBLK / Frontiers.
"Mike recently left Century Media to take over A&R at BLKIIBLK and envisioned FORBIDDEN as his first signing. It's the perfect home for all parties.
"FORBIDDEN and Mike Gitter all have histories and wealth of experiences to pull from. We're older, wiser and learned from our collective pasts. This situation couldn't be any more perfect.
"We're presently recording our first album in 16 years with enthusiasm and fire! Can't wait to share it with everyone."
During the most recent sessions at Sharkbite, Kontos laid down his tracks for eight new FORBIDDEN original tunes. FORBIDDEN also recorded "one super-secret cover song".
Last November, FORBIDDEN announced it had parted ways with VOIVOD guitarist Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain and replaced him with Von Epp.
Prior to entering the studio to record the new album, Locicero stated about Von Epp: "Locking horns with Jeremy has been creative, fun and seamless. He certainly knows his way around his guitar and recording gear. It's been the most detailed preproduction the band has done thus far."
Mongrain originally joined FORBIDDEN in July 2024 as the replacement for Steve Smyth.
Smyth exited FORBIDDEN in July 2024, saying in a statement that he "decided it's time to part ways with FORBIDDEN, and return to my band ONE MACHINE as priority, along with other projects on the horizon, and of course session work, and teaching music as always."
In October 2025, FORBIDDEN released the official Mike Sloat-directed music video for the band's second new song in over 15 years, "Mutually Assured Dysfunction". "Mutually Assured Dysfunction" and "Divided By Zero", which was made available in late June 2025, marked FORBIDDEN's first recordings with Mongrain, who was joined in FORBIDDEN's lineup by Locicero, Camacho and the group's recent additions, Skinner and Kontos.
FORBIDDEN's summer 2025 "40 Years Of Twisted Evil" European tour celebrated the 40th anniversary of the band's formation and the 35th anniversary of the release of FORBIDDEN's second album, "Twisted Into Form", which originally came out in March 1990 via Combat Records.
The first lineup of the resurrected FORBIDDEN — consisting of Locicero, Camacho, Skinner, Kontos and Smyth — made its live debut at a "secret" show in July 2023 at Baltic Kiss in Richmond, California under the TWISTED INTO EVIL banner.
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
