Ibridoma: Goodbye Nation

If you're going to take on the might of Europe's Power Metal scene you better be pretty good. So, with their third album, Goodbye Nation, in tow and a thick, yet melodic guitar sound at the forefront, surely Italy's Ibridoma must know exactly where they're headed? Well, truth be told - and even taking into account guest vocal slots from the likes of Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear) and Fabio Lione (Rhapsody Of Fire) - where this lot are headed is nowhere fast. Generic riffs, irritating vocals and run of the mill drums leads "City Of Madness" to make for an unconvincing introduction; all bluster, no substance, while "Land Of Illusion", where Lione handles every second verse, to merely pinpoint just how annoyingly whining and un-engaging the efforts of singer Christian Bartolacci really are.

However Power Metal acts live and die on their guitar prowess and while both Marco Vitali and Sebastiano Ciccale infuse the nine tracks on this album with plenty industry and vigour, there simply isn't enough inventiveness to even vaguely suggest Ibridoma could stand out from the crowd. The mid-paced - and Scheepers enhanced - "My Dying Queen" does try to introduce a little character to proceedings, a Blaze Bayley era Iron Maiden vibe used to decent effect. However again, the battle between Bartolacci (imagine an Italian accented Geddy Lee hoping to convince that his first love is Euro Power Metal…) and a far superior singer in Scheepers merely hinders the impact of the song to the extent that it is rendered impotent.

Interestingly "Acrobaleno", which is sung in Italian, slows the pace, offering a light and shade lacking elsewhere. The vocals suddenly stop nagging and the end results are a song which barely fits its surrounds, but sounds all the better for it. Possibly this is an area this band needs to explore far more to succeed?

You can't fault their effort but you can fault the execution of Ibridoma. Goodbye Nation is well intended but little more and in a genre positively brimming over with top calibre acts, that simply isn't good enough. It's hard to see where this lot go from here…

Track Listing
1. City Of Madness
2. Land Of Illusion
3. Goodbye Nation
4. Anya
5. Dreams Of The Dream
6. My Dying Queen
7. Arcobaleno
8. My Star
9. You Are Liar

Added: August 20th 2014
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Ibridoma online
Hits: 2354
Language: english

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