If the results are unlikely to win over those already tired of the band’s sources, there’s plenty here to entrance fans. The music it contains pushes the band’s commitment to ‘70s pomp to a shrieking new peak, while its lyrics explore the kinds of subjects that made albums like Yes’s Tales of Topographic Oceans critical whipping boys. He may get his wish with the release of the band’s much-anticipated sophomore album, Battle at Garden’s Gate. “I ’ve gotten plenty of ridicule,” the singer acknowledged with a knowing laugh. NPR balked at his “grating, maximalist pitchiness”, while the Times called his voice scratchy and shrill. Josh Kiszka’s high and mighty voice – which, at full screech, can sound like an ejaculating hyena – has come in for special grilling. “They absolutely don’t,” while the New York Times led their review with the sarcastic line “somebody must have really missed this stuff”. “Do they have a musical knowledge outside of Led Zeppelin?” wrote a writer in Esquire. Rolling Stone wrote that the band often sound “preposterously close” to the creators of “Stairway to Heaven”, going on to label their songs “expert forgeries”. Many of the barbs centered on the band’s clear and present debt to the war-horses of classic rock, most glaringly Led Zeppelin. While Greta Van Fleet’s debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, released in 2018, excited enough fans to debut in Billboard’s Top Five, critics treated it like a fresh outbreak of Ebola. (The sole non-sibling member is their close friend, drummer Danny Wagner.) The musicians’ remove from the modern world also helps explains why their sonic taste falls so far from that of most in their generation, as well as part of why they have drawn so much scorn from contemporary critics. They include Josh’s fraternal twin Jake, who plays guitar, and their younger brother Sam, on bass. Ramble on, gents.That mindset goes a long way towards explaining the insular world that shaped the music of the Kiszka brothers who comprise three-fourths of Greta Van Fleet. The future will not be too kind if subsequent efforts continue to climb the stairway to heaven, but there are worse ways to get your Led out. but there really isn't an iota of cynicism to be found. It's awfully easy to spot the Zep cut that served as the inspiration for each song - "Safari Song" ("In My Time of Dying"), "Flower Power" ("Hey, Hey, What Can I Do"), "Highway Tune" ("The Rover"), etc. Still, their unbridled enthusiasm for all things classic rock is kind of endearing - their oldest members were barely of legal drinking age at the time of the recording - and that fresh-faced approach to such well-worn tropes helps elevate the material. Comparisons to the band's 1980s doppelg?ngers Kingdom Come are inevitable, but unlike those Zep clones, who arrived at a time when hard rock and hair metal were still fairly relevant, Greta Van Fleet are outliers, a trad rock band in an era that's more concerned with EDM drops than hot licks. Do you like Led Zeppelin? Mitten State retro-rockers Greta Van Fleet sure do, and their debut long-player - it's actually a pair of combined EPs - delivers enough Plant-induced "Oh mamas," genuine Page-turners, and cavernous Bonham-esque beats to reforge the hammers of the gods ten times over.
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