Greta Van Fleet
The Battle at Garden's Gate

A coming-of-age album for the young Greta Van Fleet who, thanks also to the use of the Hammond organ and a reduced orchestra, manage to achieve the goal they had set for themselves: to release a new elaborate, refined album with epic and darker evocative atmospheres than its predecessor. An album that, while remaining within the confines of hard rock, repeatedly absorbs prog and psychedelic influences.

Even the title reflects the epicness and pompousness that pervades this undoubtedly important and surprising record. "The Battle at the Garden's Gate", apart from musically, is also ambitious and refined from a conceptual standpoint. Drawing philosophical, biblical, and everyday life inspirations, the album explores the human experience and narrates how religion, technology, and war manage to influence it. "The Battle at the Garden's Gate" represents a metaphorical "battle" to preserve the beauty and essence of humanity. The band itself points out: "what lies outside the gates of the title are all the unpleasant things that can destroy humanity. What lies inside, however, is theoretical perfection, the garden of Eden."

"Heath Above" opens the album with a wonderful Hammond B3 organ intro creating a dreamlike atmosphere that pervades the entire track.

"My Way, Soon" is the lead single that reached number one on the "Billboard Mainstream Rock" chart. It is the only track that completely deviates from the style of the album, both in terms of sound and lyrics. It represents the most carefree track on the album.

"Broken Bells" immediately brings the album back to more sophisticated tracks with its almost 6-minute duration. The song is relaxed and creates a very laid-back atmosphere, but at the end, it suddenly explodes with a spectacular electric guitar solo.

"Built by Nation" is a good piece (certainly not the most interesting of the bunch) but it could have easily been part of the band's previous album, without adding much new to their discography.

"Tears of Rain" is a very touching piece that reaches its peak at the end with high points of emotion.

"Age of Machine" (6.53 minutes) is the first track on the album to be forcefully influenced by prog rock inspirations! The obsessive guitar riff that dominates the piece conceptually evokes the redundant organ sound of Marillion in the song "She Chamaleon". Surely one of the most structured and significant pieces of the new Greta Van Fleet album! Live, it will delight the fans!

"Stardust Chords" is a small gem in the album. Intro with epic sounds, verses with a catchy rhythm (bounce on the spot) and a chorus that works great! In the beautiful finale, when Josh Kiszka loudly sings: "woah, It has been said...yeah, make up your bed", the emotionally charged choruses of the Reo Speedwagon seem to resurface for a moment!

"Light My Love" is the weak piece of the tracklist. Bland and far too sugary.

"Caravel" is appreciated without infamy and without praise. A good track but certainly not the best on the album. Highlight the falsetto "wooooo" that seem to mimic the wind blowing during the sea crossing of the caravel, protagonist of the track. Characteristic!

"The Barbarians" is one of the masterpieces of the album! The piece in question seems to emerge from a wild blend of Jimy Hendrix and progressive rock! Stop and go, atmosphere changes, psychedelic guitar strokes, choirs, keyboards with "goblin" sounds, and the minimal orchestra tend to create an incredible pathos together! The rhythm of the verses is cadenced and imposing. The chorus is edgy and extremely captivating, and the lyrics are epic and evocative. ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE OF THE ALBUM (if not for the last track that makes history on its own...)

"Trip the Light Fantastic" has the radio soul of a psychedelic track. Catchy but absolutely not trivial. In the lyrics, the name of the deity "Rama"" is repeated like a mantra, giving the piece a unique character!

"THE WEIGHT OF DREAMS" (8.52 minutes) is the undisputed pinnacle of the album! A mini-suite where the prog rock influences of the more mature Greta Van Fleet definitively take center stage! The composition is essentially divided into two parts. The intro is entrusted to a wonderful overlapping arpeggio of acoustic and electric guitar that after the first minute gives way to the first round of verses. At the end of the first edgy chorus, the rhythm breaks, leaving space for a wonderful guitar bridge that leads back to a second round of verses and a second chorus, at the end of which we reach the middle of the track. From here on, it will be a long instrumental coda! A drum roll and a piercing scream from the vocalist herald a psychedelic ride dominated by Jake Kiszka's electric guitar as he embarks on a 3 and a half minute solo! At the end of which a sweet acoustic guitar resumes the melodies of the arpeggio at the beginning of the track, closing the circle and forming the most classic of circular structures in full progressive rock tradition!

An engaging, evocative, bold, ambitious, and varied album! Definitely worth a listen. Congratulations Greta Van Fleet!