Brazilian power metal band Hibria set the bar high with its 2004 debut album, Defying The Rules. With such high accolades, it’d be tough for any band to follow something as stellar as it. After the decent follow-up, The Skull Collectors, Hibria stumbled a little bit on their next couple of releases. However, on the band’s self-titled sixth full-length release, the Brazilians show what a seasoned band can do with a few years under its belt. Nearing the 20-year mark as a band, Hibria has steadily achieved a loyal fan base in their native land. They’ve also often ventured off their continent and have been successful in parts of Europe and as far east as the Czech Republic, Poland and Japan. Add their first ProgPower USA appearance this September to their list of accomplishments, and the band is on a pretty good high at the moment. In the following interview, vocalist Iuri Sanson spoke with BraveWords’ scribe Kelley Simms about all things Hibria. 

BraveWords: On your new self-titled album, it’s easy to hear how much you’ve progressed since your stellar debut album. What was your mindset while writing it?

Iuri Sanson: “We always think about composing something ‘fresh.’ When we make new songs, we want them to sound the way we’d love to play it live for the rest of our career. And I can tell you for sure that Hibria is this kind of album. I think that we have reached this atmosphere and this one is the most powerful, dynamic, melodic and “Heavy Metal” album’s in our career so far.”

BraveWords: Opening track “Pain” has such an explosive groove-based rhythm. Was this the clear cut choice for the opener and how hard is it deciding on the song sequence for an album?

Iuri Sanson: “It is really hard to decide on a track list, but “Pain” was the perfect choice for us. “Abyss” and “Tightrope” could be the first track too, but “Pain” starts like a ‘punch in your face,’ you know? As we are changing some features in our music, “Pain” represents them just perfectly. “Pain” is heavy, fast, melodic, with guitar duets and a great bass solo. What else could we imagine for the opener?”

BraveWords: “Pain” and “Ashamed” includes a horn section, and “Life” features orchestrations. These are new elements that the band hasn’t really explored before, but it adds a cool dynamic to your sound. What made you want to experiment with these new sounds on a Hibria album?

Iuri Sanson: “Dude, we listen to a lot of kinds of music and jazz is one of them. While we were composing the CD, Abel (Camargo, guitars) and Renato (Osorio, guitars) came up with the idea of inserting some horns on some songs. Then Renato composed the horn arrangements you hear on “Pain,” and we also included some horns on “Ashamed.” The idea of the orchestrations on “Life” came while we were recording the vocals of this track. Renato and I were checking the vocals and the chorus started without the vocals by mistake. We looked at each other with eyes wide open and said, ‘Wow, man. That’s it …’ This track, by the way, is one of my favorites. It has a dark atmosphere with a lot of feeling from all of us.”

BraveWords: Renato plays guitars, keyboards and also produced the album. How was he at wearing all these different hats?

Iuri Sanson: “You tell me bro! (laughs). Renato is a great bandmate and friend. We met each other even before I met the guys from Hibria. The pre-production of each song is made by all of us while we are composing, but when we are a step closer to the recordings, Renato gives the ‘final word’ and contributes with more great ideas. Besides that, we also have Benhur Lima mixing our albums. We are so glad of having a band made of five friends who are highly talented musicians.”

BraveWords: What was it about new label Test Your Metal Records that made you want to sign with them?

Iuri Sanson: “We have known Grant Truesdell since 2009. He’s a great musician and a guy that lives the rock ’n’ roll way of life and we appreciate this. So when we received the invitation to join his ‘newborn’ record label, we felt honored. In 2009, we did a tour with his old band, Archon Legion, which we played in many cities in Canada such as Toronto, Quebec City, Vancouver, Montreal and many others from coast to coast. Now, it’s time for Hibria and Unleash The Archers (Grant is one of the guitar players), to have a very big North American tour.”

BraveWords: You guested on Soulspell’s last three albums as the character “Amon.” That band has a good thing going with their metal opera concept. How did you like taking on that role for those albums?

Iuri Sanson: “It was great being invited to sing on that metal opera by Heleno Vale. He did an amazing job and he also invited many good singers from Brazil. It was a pleasure for me to share the vocals with these guys. Talking about my character, Amon, I think that it worked very well with my vocal style and Heleno gave me all support and liberty to change some vocal lines in my part. So I think the whole work really sounds great.”

BraveWords: The cover artwork by Tiago Masseti has a very minimal approach compared to your previous album covers. What were you going for with this concept?

Iuri Sanson: “It’s a self-titled album so there was nothing better than our main symbol with blood to describe what we are feeling about this new CD. We explained to Tiago that we wanted very ‘clean’ artwork, without many elements. So the first draft Tiago showed us was our symbol and a white background, which we thought would be a different way to show to our fans our work. Something different from the traditional heavy metal CD covers.”
 
BraveWords: Next year will be the band’s 20th anniversary. Twenty years as a band is a great accomplishment. What’s that mean to you as an original member to still be going strong?

Iuri Sanson: “Dude, it means a lot to me, and also that the dream is still alive in our minds and hearts. This is a kind of feeling that is almost impossible to describe. We already accomplished many goals during these 20 years, like playing in Japan five times (this year will be our sixth time), playing in two editions of Loud Park (the biggest heavy metal festival in Japan), being an opening act for Metallica, Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. In 2013, we were part of the cast of Rock in Rio, which is the biggest rock ‘n’ roll festival in the world, and nowadays we have achieved even more for Hibria. Our country is not an easy country to live in. I mean, we have great nature, beaches and food, but the corruption takes it all. People are dying in hospitals waiting for a bed to be treated, our education is poor and the rich people are getting richer and richer while the poor people are facing humiliating situations. If we are still surviving here, that’s because we work a lot and we believe in our music from the bottom of our Metal Hearts!”