Monday, new week and it's time to present "Record Of The Week".
GRETA VAN FLEET’s debut, "Anthem Of The Peaceful Army", was rather eclipsed by all the comparisons with LED ZEPPELIN. Now the the Michigan four-piece rockers are back with the sophomore "The Battle At Garden’s Gate", an album with high anticipation knockin on the door.
Well, will they meet it? Hell yeah, this is a more mature GRETA VAN FLEET and yes the ZEPPELIN still flows in the veins and yes this is freaking good. "The Battle At Garden’s Gate" have twelve tunes with a play time of one hour and 3 minutes. The album was released April 16th, 2021 by Lava/Republic Records.
The album opens up with "Heat Above" and gives the listener a first taste of what to come and will be a recurring theme throughout the album, powerful and bombastic with huge choruses and soundscape, organs and a high pitched and wide vocal range, and a big creative mind to show that the three Kiszka brothers and the drummer Danny Wagner can stand on their own legs and no need for the support wheels any longer. That the two brothers Josh and Jake takes alot of space with the special vocal voice and performance and the magical guitar tones, but they got an excellent support by a punchy rhythm duo of Wagner and Sam. The bluesy piece "My Way, Soon" is a great guitar rocker that is more direct and harder. On the 3rd tune something happens, the half paced ballad "Broken Bells" is really beautiful, Josh sings a little more down toned and caresses the notes in a magnificent way, and the guitar playing is completely frigging magical, so neat. This continues on "Built By Nations", a tune that seems to have a riff that Jimmy Page lost somewhere on the road back in the day when creativity was in full bloom. Beside that it's a wonderful piece where all four serves us as a listner a real killer of a tune, the guitar playing is amazing, the thick bass licks and the drummming pattern are crunchy and well executed, all this topped by powerful vocal. The following tune, "Age Of Machine", is a powerful one, maybe the star on the album where they mixes psychedelic and hypnotic passages with blues-rock arrangements with more complex structures and a big chorus that gives goosebumps. "Tears Of Rain" is an another half paced beauty, opens up with acoustic guitars and then it's all Josh wide vocal range, and the heartfelt performance that triumphs the tune. "Stardust Chords" is an pleasantly surprise, full of energy, amazing guitar and killer chorus with a garden theme. "Light My Love" is another slightly slower song until the RUSH riffing pice "Caravel" enters the arena where Josh really gets to excel with his singing voice. "The Barbarians" is a pretty cool rocker where the wah wah guitar comes in focus, a tune that grows on every spin. "Trip The Light Fantastic" is a tune where he sings "Away from the world we have riddled with scars", powerful chours and amazing vocals. The album closes up with "The Weight Of Dreams" an almost nine minute beautiful thing, almost like a full body massage, big and powerful, and the guitars just blow me away, this is amazingly done, I just love it and I am so happy.
To sum this up, "The Battle At Garden’s Gate" is a excellent example of a great rock and roll album with a musical craftmanship that is just stunning and they exploring new territories and their identity, giving glimpses of their potential in the process.
Sum: It’s a wonderful, comprehensive rock 'n roll record that you need to get!
GRETA VAN FLEET are:
Joshua Kiszka / Vocals
Jacob Kiszka / Guitar
Samuel Kiszka / Bass, Keys
Daniel Wagner / Drums
Today's tune "Heat Above" is the opening tune from the new album "The Battle At Garden’s Gate", enjoy!
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