Ελληνικά
Genre: Heavy Rock/Progressive Folk Metal
Label: Napalm Records
Country: Greece
Year: 2026
“Ο ήλιος αυτός ήταν δικός μου και δικός σου: τον μοιραστήκαμε ποιός υποφέρει πίσω από το χρυσαφί μεταξωτό ποιός πεθαίνει; ”
These words by Giorgos Seferis adorn the opening ritual, “Home,” and encapsulate the entire spirit of the new album by Villagers of Ioannina City. Like a small gateway into a dark near future, Venceremos may prove to be as prophetic as Seferis’s words were before World War II. Perhaps we do not have time to waste any more opportunities, letting them slip away. Perhaps that is exactly why, with Venceremos, VIC seized the opportunity and created a monumental album.
The introduction fades out and the uber-addictive “Ghosts in the Sky” makes it clear that this is the most focused, mature and productive moment yet for the Ioannina band. The melody gets lodged in your head, your blood starts boiling almost instantly, and you are practically forced to get up from your couch, as if some invisible force had grabbed you by the collar! The twist comes somewhere around the four-minute mark, when a wild retro-’80s dance groove – almost disco – kicks in, bringing to mind something from Hallas’ new album and making you wonder what the hell just happened. Before you can even figure out what hit you, “Venceremos” comes in to win you over completely from the very first note. Energy, enthusiasm, inspiration and melancholy blend harmoniously into a desperate journey towards victory. Pay attention to the electronic passages: they are playful and fit perfectly with the Villagers’ new era. If we do indeed win, this will be a fitting soundtrack.
“Το αίμα στέγνωνε πάνω στο χέρι που το πρασίνιζε ένα δέντρο ένας πολεμιστής κοιμότανε σφίγγοντας τη λόγχη που του φώτιζε το πλευρό”.
The sound of the bagpipe opening “The Ruiner” immediately puts you on edge, and the atmosphere suddenly grows darker. Moments reminiscent even of Primordial raise the intensity, while the delivery becomes sharper, more staccato and more dramatic. It would fit perfectly into a performance of an ancient Greek tragedy! Sounds of rain erupt like a sudden storm in “No Fear,” and the listener experiences a seven-minute resistance epic where progressive rock is masterfully blended with folk metal. Villagers truly have nothing to envy of the top folk metal bands out there. If anything, the exact opposite should be the case.
The songs on Venceremos breathe freely, and enough space has been given to the expressiveness of the compositions to unfold properly, without ever becoming drawn-out. After the journey of Age of Aquarius, the Villagers seem to be deliberately taking a step back in order to find their point of balance. The eleven-minute “Here and Now” could be described as the ultimate moment when they finally reach their destination. The way the atmosphere is constructed is utterly cinematic, like the scene of a final battle. The emotions are bittersweet, just like the notes that grow melancholic as they mourn the moments we are waiting for, moments we may never have enough time to experience. When the farewell of “Epitaph – Requiem” arrives, you feel lighter, as if you have shared your soul with the Villagers.
This is precisely the element that can distinguish a good album from a monumental one: the ability to give music to everything we carry inside us, our anxieties, the dreams we say goodbye to every day, our hope and our despair. Without preaching, as someone who has been there since the very beginning of the Villagers rightly pointed out, but with the sincerity and innocence that can still move us.
More metallic than ever, Villagers of Ioannina City have given us an epic that is utterly Greek and, at the same time, universal; deeply rooted in history while being devastatingly relevant to the present day.
“Ο ήλιος αυτός ήταν δικός μας· τον κράτησες ολόκληρο δε θέλησες να μ’ ακολουθήσεις κι έμαθα τότε αυτά τα πράγματα πίσω από το χρυσάφι και το μετάξι· δεν έχουμε καιρό. Σωστά μιλήσαν οι μαντατοφόροι”.
