Greta Van Fleet - The Battle at Garden's Gate (2021) [Official Digital Download]

The Battle at Garden's Gate is the kind of album title that accurately reflects the contents within. Greta Van Fleet isn't much concerned with the modern world, preferring to live in a fantasy of their own creation, one cobbled together with ideas learned from old albums from Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Styx. All these elements were in place on their 2018 debut Anthem of the Peaceful Army, but they're amplified on The Battle at Garden's Gate, an album that makes everything that worked the first time bigger and louder, or just more. The group's unexpected success meant they had the power to enlist an A-list producer, so they brought Greg Kurstin – a Grammy winner for his work with Adele and Beck who also helmed records by Paul McCartney and Foo Fighters – into the studio to help shape their fanciful notions and heavy riffs. Kurstin manages to conjure the expansive vistas that were so common in 1974, letting the band puff up their pomp and ramble on. As texture is Greta Van Fleet's main gift, this is for the best: the extra length gives the impression that the group is in control of their fantasy. This spell works best when guitarist Jake Kiszka, bassist Sam Kiszka, and drummer Danny Wagner labor to conjure the ghost of Houses of the Holy, paying rapt attention to the slight shifts in light and shade. The spell is punctured whenever Josh Kiszka stumbles in to caterwaul his tales of barbarians and nations. More Geddy Lee than Robert Plant, Josh Kiszka commands attention then alienates; his wail is the weak link in a group who is getting better at their period-accurate cosplay. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

TRACKLIST

01. Heat Above
02. My Way, Soon
03. Broken Bells
04. Built By Nations
05. Age of Machine
06. Tears of Rain
07. Stardust Chords
08. Light My Love
09. Caravel
10. The Barbarians
11. Trip the Light Fantastic
12. The Weight of Dreams



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