The Battle at Garden's Gate | Greta Van Fleet

Well, we can’t say we didn’t see it coming. One look at the title of Greta Van Fleet’s new album, The Battle at Garden’s Gate, and it was unequivocally clear that we were in for a primordial journey through Middle-Earth on a quest to achieve philosophical excess and medieval glorification (or something like that). A quick glance through the tracklisting certainly reaffirms these assertions, with meditations dubbed “Tears of Rain”, “The Weight of Dreams”, and “Trip the Light Fantastic” gracing the back cover of this 12 track musical exploration. For anyone hoping for the resurgence of blues-based rock and roll previously offered from the heralded “saviors” of rock, this one may not be for you.

Throughout the 1 hour and 3 minute run time of TBGG, Greta Van Fleet leads us on an introspective and at times psychedelic expedition; wrestling with subjects of warring ideologies, religious motifs, and apocalyptic landscapes. With suspect lyrics that are at times ridiculously simplistic (“My Way, Soon”) and are at others admittedly poetic (“Tears of Rain”), vocalist Josh Kizska leads this charge for philosophical superfluity armed with melodies and piercing shrieks that are too often the cause for head scratching. Meanwhile his brothers and family friend that make up the rest of the band provide the elaborately dark and indulgent soundtrack for what becomes a rather cinematic and contemplative listening experience.

To speak plainly, the whole thing comes off as grandiose. Where the band’s debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, left off attempting to distance the group as far as possible from the imminent Led Zeppelin comparisons, this one picks up with the same brooding and ambition as Zep’s Physical Graffiti. With just one blues-rock double EP and a quasi-prog debut under their belt, it appears that Greta Van Fleet has jumped the gun and attempted to scale the insurmountable ‘Stairway’ that is artistic exposition and cosmic contemplation established by their legendary predecessors, before even establishing their own identity.

With all that being said, there is a lot in this album that demonstrates that these four young musicians have no shortage of artistic prowess. There are many instances of riveting work provided by guitarist Jake Kiszka and his wah pedal, such as the intro to “The Barbarians'' and the ending solo of “Broken Bells”, that add redeeming qualities to otherwise forgettable excursions. Also sprinkled throughout the album are several touching keys arrangements, with Sam Kizka’s playing highlighting the ballad “Light My Love”, and organ nicely accenting the opening track “Heat Above”.

For more on the album's first two singles, “My Way, Soon” and “Age of Machine”, check out my previous article here.

The real salvation of the project, however, comes with the foot-stomping opening riff of “Built By Nations”, which demonstrates a sudden shift to an oh-so-welcomed groovy blues eruption. The song continues to leave much desired lyrically, but recaptures our interest at the climax with a reverb drenched guitar solo that soars to ear splitting heights before crashing down with one final pass through the riff. The track is perhaps a little too reminiscent of Zep’s affinity for funky time-signature coordination (think “Black Dog”), but this is a welcome resemblance all the same. Not to be forgotten is drummer Danny Wagner, who while impressive throughout the album is particularly well showcased on this track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsI1ujh65u0

From there we come to the latin-based acoustic playing on “Tears of Rain”, which pleads “Who will bring the rain?” in it’s repeated closing refrain — a rather beautiful change of pace that signifies a three song stretch where Kiszka seems to really hit his lyrical stride. The ensuing “Stardust Chords” then builds off of a threatening opening riff with one of the many religious references of the album, in the form of a chorus that wails “Even sinners go to drink the wine, break the bread.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kOsPfxPSIk

Pirates, Babylon, and psychedelic travel through the cosmos round out the remainder of the album, before a closing track that adventures on for nearly nine minutes. Check out the full tracklist below:

While admittedly impressive at times, The Battle at Garden’s Gate is a far cry from the catalog that we’ve come to associate with Greta Van Fleet, and is almost definitely a premature undertaking by the young band. Having scarcely yet cut their teeth as a rock band in the industry, the striving to make a monumental and career defining album was folley, and ultimately an attempt that came up short. That being said however, there is a possibility that this will one day be looked back upon as an exceedingly interesting and creative period for the band — but perhaps a few more “Highway Tunes” are needed before then.

The Battle at Garden’s Gate is not for the casual listener. The many lyrical blemishes and redundant broodings will require overlooking, and the contemplative artistic musings of the band as well as the dark, philosophical subject matters they explore will require the proper headspace before indulging. For those chance few times when you are feeling introspective however, a trip through the Garden’s Gate could be just what you seek.