To celebrate their twenty year anniversary, the latest release from Brazilian Power Metallers Hibria possesses the fairly self-explanatory title of XX (Test Your Metal Records), a seven track EP featuring three brand new songs and four live recordings.

The live cuts which occupy the second half, ‘Silent Revenge’, ‘Lonely Fight’, ‘Tightrope’ and the excellent ‘Tiger Punch’ are all played to finger-breaking perfection as you would expect from such a technically proficient band, but are unfortunately robbed of a little of their power by a somewhat hollow production and sounding like the band are only actually playing to about fifty (albeit very enthusiastic) people.

However, while those songs will undoubtedly keep their fans happily windmilling their ankle-length hair for a good twenty minutes, the more interesting stuff, as you would expect, lies in the new studio material. Hibria’s list of influences has always been easy to pinpoint. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Megadeth have been worn on their sleeves with pride for years, but first track ‘Leading Lady’ sounds more like something lifted straight from a Mr. Big album. This won’t come as too much of a shock to some as there have already been hints of that direction on previous releases, but the licks and runs on show here are purest, uncut Paul Gilbert. These soon morph into a some sort of Annihilator meets Devin Townsend style chorus before the spirit of Gilbert returns for a typically difficult to learn guitar solo. Luri Sanson‘s vocals sound as sharp as ever, although his heavy accent does make for a couple of “did I just hear that?” moments. For example, I’m fairly sure he doesn’t actually sing “I feel my penis turning” during the first verse.

Next track ‘Music’ edges back somewhere towards the Power Metal sound that most of their fans would have parted with their hard-earned for, even if it does include a jaunty jazz/funk breakdown halfway through. Final newie ‘Fool’s Paradise’ sees the band back in more familiar surroundings, but even with its particularly heavy, almost Fear Factory intro, the songs fails to ignite with any real significance. That said, bassist Ivan Beck does deliver a brilliant Billy Sheehan style bass run towards the end.

An enjoyable enough interim release, but for those simply expecting more of the usual, one that could result in as many people scratching their heads as banging them.

6.0/10

GARY ALCOCK