Released by: Lava/Republic Records
Release Date: Out Now!!!
Genre: Classic Rock
Links: https://gretavanfleet.com/
Line Up:
Vocals – Josh Kiszka
Guitars – Jake Kiszka
Bass/keyboards – Sam Kiszka
Drummer – Danny Wagner
Tracklist:
Fate Of The Faithful
Waited All Your Life
The Falling Sky
Sacred The Thread
Runway Blues
The Indigo Streak
Frozen Light
The Archer
Meeting The Master
Farewell For Now
I used to get annoyed when people talked bad about Greta Van Fleet using the band’s greatest valuable thing, which was being a (good) copy of one of the greatest rock bands in the world, Led Zeppelin. If the boys want to play Page & Plant and have willing fans, let them. It would be funnier to remember that Led has always been one of the biggest cultural taking (or setting aside) plants on the planet, sucking old blues and whole songs from fellow inspirations of their past. Live the Boys of Greta provide a sharp band, nice songs, a good twin/duplicate of Robert Plant and David Coverdale on vocals (Josh Kiszka), and a strong guitarist (Jake Kiszka). Course other bands come to mind in early 70’s Rock era, but I digress. The point being they can deliver the goods live which should be the most important thing for fans to enjoy.
Greta’s early success, however, has become less interesting as it became a much less obvious Led twin/duplicate – so much so that the band’s best release to date is From the Fires, an 8-track, 32-minute LP. Starcatcher, the band’s third, sounds more like a fake copy of the bands that have already pretended to be Led’s musical qualities and sounds too dishonest compared to Whitesnake’s records, which benefited (in the past) from the inventions of new things of Jimmy Page and co. Let’s just be honest about that.
Maybe it’s a production issue. Starcatcher begins with two mysterious songs, (the) unavoidable, already-decided Future of the Faithful and Waited All Your life, which are not good to open a record: they could be musical bridges on the B side or closing tracks. Things heat up on the third track “The Falling Sky”, a hard rock song whose (a complex piece of music) would have more musical surprises if it had come out of Black Crowe’s sessions. Interesting to me is musically it’s positioned from the middle to the end, with the interesting number Runway Blues and the blues-rock Frozen Light sort of random placing along the album in my opinion. This follows suit in the style of the songs, they follow no particular set groove.
Using other bands as a comparison or writing “this band is for those who like…” are useful things when looking at a record.. Greta Van Fleet risks not being a band you would stop to listen to, even if you like a lot of the groups that are the source of their sound since the source of references needs touches. On one hand, is great these guys have kept making music and slowly burning their roots away somewhat, but in the end, the core of their music will always sound like the greats of the past. Honestly, is that such a bad thing? Take it for what it’s worth and listen to it and enjoy that they are around and had the brass to take on their influences and keep on developing it to this day.
Written by: Shadow Editor
Ratings: 7/10
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