It’s been seven years since Villagers of Ioannina City released the incredible Age of Aquarius, and six since I first heard it. It hasn’t left my regular rotation since, helped by an absolutely crazy live show at 229 in London in 2022. But the world is a different place since 2019. Age of Aquarius was a fundamentally happy record, with some lyrical messages exhorting striving for better buried in a lot of psychedelia. Venceremos, meaning “we will overcome,” is far more grounded. The psychedelia is almost gone from the lyrics and toned down in the music. Though it remains a Greek folk/prog rock record, Venceremos is heavier, and lyrically a far more straightforward protest and call to action for life in the 2020s.
Fortunately, this works out. Venceremos is still immediately identifiable as Villagers of Ioannina City. Greek folk melodies and heavy use of Greek traditional bagpipes and clarinet give the band a unique sound, to a foreign audience at least. Alex Karametis’ vocals are distinctive as well. The songs are long and evolve and shift organically—adopting protest music hasn’t turned them into a punk band. But there is a noticeable shift into prog metal. “Home” and “The Ruiner” have parts that remind me of Disillusion, both in composition and in sound, particularly a little vocal processing. There’s also a little more of a post-rock twist in places. “No Fear” in particular reminds me of the emotional post-rock sound of bands like Overhead, the Albatross.
There are some absolute bangers on Venceremos. “Ghosts in the Sky” in particular is fantastic. Building a seven-minute song around fundamentally one melody is a brave choice, but it’s a great melody, and it’s handed off between instruments and vocalists as the song progresses. “Here and Now” is the closest to the more uniform sound of Age of Aquarius, as the longest and most overtly positive song on the record. “The Ruiner” is bleak, heavy, and discomforting, building up into a furious chant as the song ends. Opening track—other than the obligatory intro—”Home” opens with a clean guitar melody that reassured me that VIC still have it the moment I heard it. You know as the song iterates on it and drifts into an atmospheric section that it’ll be back in the climax, but that doesn’t make it any less effective when it does. There are no weak songs here. Were I to really scrabble around for complaints, the fadeout ending on “No Fear” is a bit cheap.
There’s a female vocalist on nearly every track. Her appearances are mostly quite subtle, but on the hypnotic opening and bridge of “Ghosts in the Sky” and the duet near the end of “Venceremos,” she delivers some of the album’s best moments. She’s uncredited as far as I can tell, which is a bit of a shame. Similarly, Dimitris Brentas on wind instruments is credited in the promo materials but not on the Bandcamp page. I’m not really sure what that’s about, as the tightly integrated traditional instruments are such a big part of what makes Venceremos a success. The main trio are no slouches, of course. I particularly like Akis Zois’ bass work on “Venceremos.” Frontman Alex Karametis isn’t the most technical of vocalists, but he has a very pleasing tone that fits the music well. Likewise, his guitar work is intricate and interesting rather than flashy.
I’d always rather a band evolve than try to recapture the magic of a particularly brilliant album. Venceremos is why. It’s still Villagers of Ioannina City and still excellent, but it does something different, and that means I want to listen to both it and its predecessor. Among many excellent songs, “Ghosts in the Sky” is my SotY candidate #1. The 2020s have proven difficult to engage with musically. Venceremos is cathartic, angry, grounded, but still ultimately offers positivity, and that’s exactly what I needed.
Rating: Excellent
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: Stream/FLAC1
Label: Napalm Records
Websites: vicband.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/villagersofioanninacity
Releases Worldwide: September 18th, 2026
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