Review: Anthem of the Peaceful Army by Greta Van Fleet

I listened to Anthem of the Peaceful Army, the debut full-length from Greta Van Fleet, before reading Pitchfork’s evisceration of said album that, in some ways, is overshadowing the whole thing. Now, I kind of agree with the review. Greta Van Fleet’s one defining quality is how Josh Kiszka sounds very much like Robert Plant, and how the band worked around it to deliver dad-friendly rock that sounds almost note-for-note like Led Zeppelin. You sometimes wish there was more to it than that, but there you go. Greta Van Fleet’s one quality is that they sound like the past. Is that really a bad thing? I mean, I didn’t mind the record. My expectations weren’t high either. I heard their single on the radio and was interested to review this on that alone. That said, if anything, Anthem of the Peaceful Army somewhat overstays its welcome a bit, because the tricks do run out after halfway through the record, and you hit diminishing returns pretty quickly. But, you know, it will do. Also, I guess that evisceration provided them with more press, not to mention the revival of the “are music reviews relevant?” argument that’s been going on for ages – but that’s not for me to talk about. [NB] | 3/5