Greta Van Fleet – The Battle At Garden’s Gate

The razor’s edge between “awesome” and “sucks” in rock is a very personal thing. I can be a music snob, but I also accept guilty pleasures. You should own your guilty pleasures. Greta Van Fleet’s The Battle At Garden’s Gate is a guilty pleasure and it’s awesome.

I have no problem that these dudes channel Led Zeppelin and Rush. I love those bands, but have heard them so many times that I am ready for some fresh material – GVF delivers that new material. Is it as good as Zep and Rush? Hell no, but who is?

GVF sound has evolved and they now sound like GVF. It could be that I have picked up on the nuances of how they sound different from their influences, but I prefer to believe they have evolved. The band has worked the road hard over the last few years and it shows in how tight they are as a band and in the maturity of their material.

I love their bombastic take-me-seriously rock and roll. And let’s face it, I like that it is rock and roll and not hip hop (no disrespect to hip hop, it’s just my old classic rock ears are overwhelmed by its dominance in pop). I am all in on this band. In summary: yes, they are still doing derivative crotch rock, but somehow it is more mature.