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Grammy award winning rock band Greta Van Fleet will soon be releasing a long-awaited second album. Best known for their song “Highway Tune” which appeared on their first EP, “Black Smoke Rising.” After the release of another EP, “From the Fires,” Greta Van Fleet went on to release a full album, “Anthem of the Peaceful Army.” Now, the Greta Van Fleet community is awaiting a second full album called “The Battle at Garden’s Gate.”
Greta Van Fleet formed in Frankenmuth, Michigan in 2012. The band is made up of three brothers— Josh, Jake and Sam Kiszka— as well as friend Danny Wagner. Inspired by their parents’ vinyl collection, the Kiszka brothers were exposed to rock and became interested at a young age. The group gained traction after the members graduated high school.
Greta Van Fleet has recently released three singles from the new album, two of which have been in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot Hard Rock chart, with the third peaking at number 11. Based on the three singles from the new album that will be released April 16, 2021, it seems that their sound has evolved since their previous two albums.
Originally, Greta Van Fleet’s sound was centered on the upbeat rock type of feeling that is familiar to listeners of 1970s classic rock. With “Anthem of the Peaceful Army,” they began to experiment with a different sound exemplified in the song “Brave New World.”
This new album may feature an expansion on that kind of sound. This is evident in two of the three singles just released—“Heat Above” and “Age of the Machine.” The third single “My Way, Soon” is the odd one out of the album, though it was the first single to be released.
“‘My Way, Soon’ in no way represents the album as a whole,” said bass player Sam Kiszka in an interview with 93XRadio. “I think ‘Age of the Machine’ does that.”
“My Way, Soon” is very upbeat and is about moving on and life on the road, according to band members. The music video compliments the song in that it chronicles the band’s life as they were on tour and the breaks they took to retreat to a cabin in the woods to write and work on new material. The band members shot much of the video themselves on 8 mm film.
Greta Van Fleet began recording the new album in the summer of 2019 and continued through the fall of 2020 into the pandemic.
Oddly enough, some of the themes of the album can be applied to current events, though much of the material predates the pandemic.
“It feels eerily appropriate,” said Sam Kiszka on 93XRadio.
“Age of the Machine” finds its roots in dystopian literature. Its music video can be analyzed on many different levels, adding to the mysterious nature of the album as a whole.
“Every song on the album is its own story, its own mythology, and works into this world at garden’s gate,” lead vocalist Josh Kiszka said to 93XRadio.
As for the quality of the writing and production of all three singles, this work has surpassed anything Greta Van Fleet has done before. The intricate nature of each piece is new, refreshing, and differs greatly from their previous material and from one another. Personally, I am looking forward to listening to the new album and for Greta Van Fleet to get back to touring.
