Album Review: Anthem of the Peaceful Army by Greta Van Fleet

This head-banging, Led Zep-indebted collection of rock songs might not change the world, but it'll at least give yer head a little wobble Greta Van Fleet love rock'n'roll way more than you do. The small town Michigan, USA group formed back in 2012, and is comprised of three brothers - Josh Kiszka, Sam Kiszka, and Jake Kiszka - and their pal Danny Wagner. After six years of old-fashioned grit'n'grind, the Frankenmuth natives (population 4,994, according to the 2010 census) are on the cusp of international glory.

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Download | Listen and subscribe via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Radio Public | Stitcher | RSS The Lowdown: In the midst of a grueling 2018 tour schedule that’s found them wowing audiences on club and festival stages across North America and Europe, the classic rock torchbearers of Greta Van Fleet attempt to translate the buzzed-about bombast of their live shows into their debut full-length (75% of which was written during a whirlwind two-week stint in the studio). The Good: Despite their weariness of the comparison, Greta Van Fleet remains preternaturally good at evoking the sonic world of the Zeppelin-ified ’70s; even without guitarist Jake Kiszka’s expertly bluesy solo work, frontman Josh Kiszka’s voice would naturally lead you to the conclusion that he’s somehow been pre-possessed by the ghost of Robert Plant. From the vintage drug name-drops of “When the Curtain Falls” (what up, Obetrol?) to the Southern rock choogle of “The Cold Wind”, the best of these songs would slot in seamlessly on period piece soundtracks (think back — you first heard “Age of Man” over a road trip montage in Almost Famous, right?) The vibe coalesces strongest on standout “Lover, Leaver (Taker, Believer)”, a charging, jammy anthem with lyrics that feel like they were written in the margins of a first-edition Monster Manual.

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Greta Van Fleet hail from Frankenmuth, Michigan, home of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, the store that keeps the holiday spirit alive nearly every day of the year. Living with the specter of Santa is bound to keep a young man residing in a fantasy land, and so it is with Greta Van Fleet: They inhabit a world they never experienced, namely the '70s. Every member of Greta Van Fleet -- which consists of a heap of brothers called Kiszka and a drummer named Danny Wagner, all born too late to witness either Kingdom Come or Jimmy Page & Robert Plant's Unledded reunion -- act as if the earth stopped turning in 1974, the year when Led Zeppelin still traded in myths learned from J.R.R.

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Robert Plant knows would-be golden gods when he hears them. "They are 'Led Zeppelin I,' " he said earlier this year of Greta Van Fleet, a quartet that started as Michigan teenagers six years ago and is now rolling out its first album, "Anthem of the Peaceful Army" (Lava/Republic). Like many seasoned listeners, Plant hears the ambition, the callowness, the shamelessness of Zeppelin's bravura 1969 debut in Greta Van Fleet, but also slags them as mere imitators.

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