The young rock band Greta Van Fleet released their highly anticipated studio album in October, and left fans speechless... in a bad way.
3/10
From left to right: Daniel Wagner (drums), Josh Kiszka (vocals), Sammy Kiszka (bass) and Jake Kiszka (guitar).
In October, music lovers worldwide witnessed the heartbreaking disappointment of the highly anticipated debut album release from Greta Van Fleet, titled “Anthem of the Peaceful Army”. Having only released an EP back in the Summer of 2017, fans worldwide had been anticipating the release of this album for some time. With the young band gaining such a large following over the past year and a half, critics have constantly (to the point where it’s excessive and annoying) described Greta as the “Millennial version of Zeppelin”.
However with the release of their first full length album, critics and fans worldwide realized that Greta Van Fleet are in fact no match for the likes of Zeppelin, Clapton and Hendrix. Instead, as shown in their recent album, they’re just a bunch of 19 and 22 year olds who haven’t exactly figured themselves out, let alone their music. With the crash of their latest release, perhaps fans were to quick to put the band on a pedestal.
22 year old Josh Kiszka’s vocals have way to much falsetto throughout the whole album, to the point where it’s concerning for the health of his voice at only 22. The rest of the band shows some potential and maintains some of the sound fans grew to love from from their EP. However the band decides to adventure into the lands of synthesizer sitar (and a touch of flute) throughout the album which proves to be somewhat questionable.
One of the decent tracks on the album is When the Curtain Falls, featuring a catchy lead guitar riff, energetic drums and kick-ass bass fills, the band pre released this track to promote the album, giving fans high hopes. The track tells a nostalgic story and sounds similar to their EP, however with a bit more of a kick, proving that the band still has hope.
Age of Man sounds as if Josh Kiszka keeps falling asleep on stage and the rest of the band continue to play louder and louder throughout each interlude in an attempt to wake him up. With random screams throughout the song, it sounds as if Kiszka is experiencing teenage angst periodically.
You’re the One I Want sounds as if the band got drunk and fired off a sappy 80’s love ballad with simplistic and cringe-worthy lyrics. Not to mention the random yodelling at the end of the tune, it no joke sounds as if the song would be better off being yodelled by Mason Ramsey than Greta Van Fleet.
Mountain of the Sun sounds refreshing and promising, opening with a classic 70’s swamp rock guitar riff. While Josh Kiszkas vocals sound slightly whiny and overstrained in some parts of the tune, for the most part this song is pretty catchy, with the instrumental parts sounding similar to the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
The Cold Wind is honestly extremely confusing. It starts of with Josh Kiszka whining “Oh sweet mama” before telling the story of selling an Ox. Led Zeppelin knew how to separate their excited love ballads from their headbangers, whereas Greta combines the two into one messy formula that doesn’t quite work out.
To be fair, Greta Van Fleet are a young band still trying to figure themselves out, so let’s hope that this album was just a bump on their road to becoming a good band. As it usually takes a band a while to get their sound established, hopefully the band will take a while to write some good material before releasing any new music as this album was clearly rushed. Greta Van Fleet need to take a breather and figure out their sound.
Images:
Band on Fire. Greta Van Fleet
Music, Apple. Anthem of the Peaceful Army Album Cover.
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