My wife and I heard this promising new song at the legendary concert in the Dominican Monastery in Guebwiller during their spring tour. Live, you could hear the bagpipes and the song had real drive; the bagpipes' mantra-like melodies stayed with me all night long. We were looking forward to the new album from our favorite band. Then, on June 18, 2026, the band released the song, which I received as a .wav file, and the production was very dense and powerful across all frequency ranges—but also overwhelming, as the bagpipes were no longer audible against the guitars. It was the same story on Spotify: the guitars dominate, and the bagpipes are barely perceptible. Consequently, the track sounds like an 80s AOR song with a slight heavy metal influence. Furthermore, Alex’s voice no longer sounds as full and natural as it did on previous albums; instead, it sounds strained and slightly aggressive. If you search for "Greek Rock 80s" on Spotify, you’ll find several playlists; listening to them makes it clear why VIC had to make an album like this—because rock music of this style didn't exist back then. We Western Europeans were absolutely flooded with AOR in our rock clubs, so this type of music is something of a turn-off for us; it comes across as too saccharine and lacking any rough edges.
A current band that comes to mind is Amorphis—melodic and heavy, but somehow inconsequential. The new album will surely sound different live than it does on recorded media, but for now, the prevailing feeling is disappointment regarding the dilution—both lyrically and musically—of what VIC stands for.
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