In a new interview with Shawn Ratches of Laughingmonkeymusic, guitarist Craig Locicero of reactivated San Francisco Bay Area metallers FORBIDDEN spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the band’s long-awaited new studio album. FORBIDDEN’s follow-up to 2010’s “Omega Wave” is being tracked at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer/co-producer Zack Ohren.
Craig said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “In the next week or so, the announcement’s gonna come out where our home is, what the [record] label is that we signed to. That all happened over the holidays, which never fucking happens. But that’s how seriously people were taking this. But I will say we just finished drums [for the album] this week. The next two weeks are tracking guitars, vocals, solos, all that bullshit. We have this [tour with VIO-LENCE and VENOM INC.] we’re doing [in early February] in South America. We’re gonna take a couple of weeks break, rehearse, go down there, then we immediately head back, probably hit up a couple of more solos, couple of more vocals, and we’ll start mixing as that period goes on.”
As for a possible release date for the new FORBIDDEN album, Craig said: “[It will be] second quarter [of 2026], for sure. Because what I’ve learned — at one point I was signed by American. I did [a MANMADE GOD] album with [executive producer] Rick Rubin, and it took forever to come out. But there was a big upheaval in labels. And they offered us a chance to push the album back to do proper promotion. We were, like, ‘No. We want it out when you said it was gonna come out.’ And that fucked us as fucking bad as anything I’ve ever done in my life. And I know now that you need to listen to your people that are working the record. As long as they need, as much work as they need to do, as much press as we need to do, we’ll let ’em do their jobs, ’cause there’s a lot riding on this for a lot of people and not just us.”
During the most recent sessions at Sharkbite, FORBIDDEN drummer Chris Kontos laid down his tracks for eight new 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 Jeremy 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, longtime bassist Matt Camacho and the group’s recent additions, singer Norman 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.
Back in August 2024, Locicero seemed less enthusiastic about the prospect of signing with a record label, telling Bloodstock TV’s Oran O’Beirne: “We don’t have a record label. I don’t want a record label yet. I have an opportunity to finally do this with no monkey… It’s important to say that we have no delusions of grandeur either. I think that we understand more than anybody how much the industry has changed. I don’t wanna get caught in the machine, and the machine can chew you up before you get creative. You can get stunted creatively if you agree too quickly. ‘Cause we’ve been approached already. And I’m, like, ‘Not yet.’ We’re not gonna go there yet.
“It’s important for us to feel like we got our album done and artistically put together, lyrically,” Craig added. “No one needs to fucking tell us how to do it. And I feel good about our chances of at least reigniting and kind of reforging our path again. ‘Cause there’s a spot for us. ‘Cause we’ve got all our Bay Area brothers, but we’re that band, we’re a little more heavy metal, a little more melodic. We do things a little differently. So we have our own little spot. And I hope to have it all land where it’s supposed to be.”