Forbidden is the eighteenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on 5 June 1995.

However, original Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne would reconcile with guitarist Tony Iommi not long afterwards.

Forbidden followed lineup changes in the band: Geezer Butler was replaced by Neil Murray and Cozy Powell returned in the immediate aftermath of 1994's Cross Purposes tour.

Writing and rehearsals took place at Bluestone Farm in Wales, ahead of recording at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, in December 1994.

According to a July 1995 interview by Tony Iommi for the Boston radio station WBCN, the album took ten days to record.

[5] The opening track, "The Illusion of Power", features Body Count member Ice-T[5] delivering a spoken word part during the bridge.

AllMusic's Bradley Torreano gave the album only one and a half stars, remarking that "with boring songs, awful production, and uninspired performances, this is easily avoidable for all but the most enthusiastic fan".

[10] Rob Zombie gave some lighter praise at the launch, stating "There is one easy way to figure out the lasting power of Black Sabbath.

Cozy and Neil were still contracted to do other stuff, so it ended up with just Tony Martin, Geoff Nicholls and myself just jamming around and putting ideas down.

He recalled that Iommi approached both him and Ice-T in England to record their new album after listening to a demo of "War Pigs" that Body Count had made.

He explained: "We've held back on the reissues of those albums because of the current Sabbath thing with Ozzy Osbourne, but they will certainly be happening...