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✖︎ Anthem Of The Peaceful Army by Greta Van Fleet - a brief review

20 October 2018 music reviews

the star ratings here for each song are relative to each other and the album as a whole. so a one star song on a five star album can still be good. it is completely arbitrary and subjective. does it make sense? maybe not. i don’t care.

Album Rating: ★★★★☆ - In short, the first half of the album resembles From The Fires and should be comfortable for those already familiar with Greta Van Fleet. The second half of the album really shines, in my opinion, as they stretch a little bit and add a little diversity to their typical sound.

  1. Age of Man: ★★☆☆☆
    • A solid opener. Nothing really special here. It captures your attention enough to get you in the mood for the album but things don’t really pick up until the next track. Given the overall feel of the song, with the stretched out vocals and operatic-ness, along with how it ends, I feel like this would have been a much more fitting song to end the album than open it.
  2. The Cold Wind: ★★★☆☆
    • This is where it picks up a little bit. You get more of the guitar you’d expect based on From The Fires to really get the mood going. If you moved Age of Man to the end of the album, this is what I would have opened the album with. It still meanders a bit in the middle, but the rolling guitars and guitar solo, with the in-your-face opening really set the mood for what’s to come.
  3. When The Curtain Falls: ★★★★★ - first single
    • This was their big single and for good reason. Tt has everything you’d expect from a Greta song; big, bombastic and melodic. This would have fit very nicely between Safari Song and Black Smoke Rising.
  4. Watching Over: ★★★☆☆ second single
    • This one started pretty flat for me but the heaviness of the chorus and the guitar solo save it and elevate it. They are obviously extremely inspired by Led Zeppelin, but unfortunately, this song comes across as more of an emulation than merely being inspired by.
  5. Lover, Leaver: ★☆☆☆☆ third single
    • Not a bad tune, but relative to the rest of the album it falls extremely flat. I can see people really loving this song, but it just doesn’t bring anything new. The guitar solo is nice but there’s so much more to be offered through the rest of the album.
  6. You’re The One ★★★★☆
    • A fantastic tune here. This is where the keys/organs start to get introduced and we get to see a little more range from the band as a whole. Lyrically, vocally, and musically, everyone steps it up a little bit and shows you there is more to come.
  7. The New Day: ★★★★★
    • This one came as a bit of a surprise. A much softer and more melodic offering than we are used to from Greta, but they knocked it out of the park completely. By a mile, this is my favorite song on the album. It might be on the softer side, but it feels raw and in your face like a live recording. To top it off, the base line really drives everything home.
  8. Mountain Of The Sun: ★★★★☆
    • Another big, bombastic song with a solid and consistent cadence. The guitar really sells it here throughout the song, bringing it up another level into the solo and the “oooooohhhs”. To top it off, the section with vocals over just percussion helps give it a nice little change of pace from the rest of the album.
  9. Brave New World: ★★☆☆☆
    • I got a little bored with this one. They play off of the airy, psychedelic 70’s vibe a little bit but the balance between that and their typical style, with very heavy bass in this song makes me feel like it could’ve been executed a little better. The airy vibe here is nice with their sound, but the heavy bass doesn’t contrast well with what it feels like they are going for. If they were willing to take some more chances and go all in on the airy, psychedelic, this would have really shined. Where The New Day succeeded for me, this one failed.
  10. Anthem: ★★★★☆ fourth single
    • Lyrically I don’t know really know what’s going on, but I love the acoustic vibe throughout the song with a top notch base line and a light percussive background. The world is only what the world is made of.

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