Two songs on Forbidden’s 1990 release "Twisted Into Form" had an incredible impact on me as a young guitarist and songwriter. Nestled amidst that album's largely unremarkable Bay thrash tunes were two of the most amazing, eerie, evil, hauntingly beautiful, quiet, clean, metal instrumentals; ‘Spiral Depression’ and ‘Parting of the Ways’.

Fast forward to Forbidden's 2011 release, "Omega Wave", which opens with yet another fantastic, haunting instrumental ‘Alpha Century’. This one is less quiet, more of a churning power processional, yet again leading into a fairly unremarkable thrashy track #2. Sigh. Here we go again?

Not quite. "Omega Wave" isn't a masterpiece, but unlike "Twisted Into Form", it offers more rewards than just the instrumental. ‘Overthrow’ follows the ok ‘Forsaken at the Gates’ with an excellent knuckle sandwich of Slayer and Fear Factory for one of the album's strongest tunes. The album's second instrumental is called ‘Chatter’. This is really just noise, living up to its name as a lead-in to ‘Dragging My Casket’, a good song that visits a few different sounds while still remaining un-complex (Is "uncomplex" a word? It is now.) My attention span then careens right into the void, until the solid title track closer.

These guys have been around forever, and it shows, for better or worse. For better: Russ Anderson is a vocal force to be reckoned with, able to deliver Tom Araya, John Bush, Burton C. Bell, Michael Kiske, or even Mark Slaughter(!!) when needed. For worse: "Omega Wave"'s standout offering is (again) an instrumental. ‘Alpha Century’ is brilliant, but beyond that, there are only a handful more of good songs, and these are merely good. The rest are merely ok-at-best.

You wouldn't regret this purchase, but I also don't think it would make your Top 10 list. It's a shame, because clearly, Forbidden have proven themselves capable of material worthy of Top 10 lists.