Is this some leftover track from the Led Zeppelin vaults? What the hell am I listening to? That was pretty much my first reaction when I heard Greta Van Fleet. The guy sounded like Robert Plant, the riffs and solos were almost absurdly reminiscent of Page, and the whole thing felt as though somebody had unearthed tapes from a lost Zeppelin recording session. As it turned out, though, there was no forgotten ’70s band behind all the commotion – just four kids from Michigan. This must have been 2017 or 2018. Pre-pandemic times, long before the AI revolution. Today, I would probably assume someone had come up with a brilliant way to make easy money: „Generate a band that sounds like Led Zeppelin, but freshen it up enough to sell it to younger listeners.” Click, done… And that brings us to one of Greta Van Fleet’s fundamental strengths – at least they were not created by artificial intelligence. At least I hope not. The problem is that for years, something about their music simply did not sit right with me. You can admire the efficiency with which the Kiszka brothers dig up hard-rock corpses from the 1970s, but it is hard not to ask whether they crossed a line somewhere along the way. If I want to hear Led Zeppelin, I put on Led Zeppelin. Simple. And yet Greta Van Fleet did not disappear after one season. There may be very little in their music that is genuinely groundbreaking, but clearly there is an audience for it. Year after year, they kept growing, the fan base got bigger, while those who had hated them from the beginning rarely changed their minds. Some see them as the saviors of classic rock; others hear musical cosplay, or even cheap imitation. Who is right? As the saying goes, there is no accounting for taste. And arguing about taste – especially on the internet – rarely ends well anyway. Which brings us to 2026 and the band’s fourth album, „Palace for the People”. All right, then. Time to find out whether anyone actually lives in this palace, or whether it is just another impressive facade built on Led Zeppelin foundations.
It is hardly surprising that the constant comparisons eventually started weighing on Greta Van Fleet. Spending a decade as „that band that sounds like Led Zeppelin” cannot be easy, even if for many fans that was initially the best possible recommendation. The Americans have been trying to find a path of their own for some time now. After the overworked „Starcatcher”, which at times – God help us – wandered dangerously far into progressive territory, the band has taken another step in its search for a distinct identity. This time, Mike Elizondo sat behind the board, and his career is probably one of the best arguments that genre boundaries are largely imaginary. His résumé includes records as different as Turnstile’s „Glow On”, Mastodon’s „The Hunter”, and Fiona Apple’s „Extraordinary Machine”. Add collaborations with Eminem, Rag’n’Bone Man, Sheryl Crow, and dozens of artists from completely different musical worlds, and if anyone was going to help Greta Van Fleet break out of its own habits, Elizondo looked like a very good choice.
And to be fair, the plan works – at least in part. You can hear it most clearly in the songwriting itself. The songs stick more readily, and the album feels more focused on actual songs than on flashy demonstrations of musicianship, although there is still plenty of that too – more on that in a moment. Greta still sound like Led Zeppelin – sorry, what I obviously meant was that Greta still sound like Greta – but there are also moments where they simply play enjoyable rock without all the unnecessary self-importance. Single „Tear It Down” is hardly revolutionary, but it works perfectly as driving music. I know because I tested it while taking my kids to school. Even some of the band’s most committed detractors may find a couple of tracks in this thirteen-song set that turn into unexpected guilty pleasures. What have they failed to shake off? Kiszka’s voice can still be irritating. There are moments when the constant high registers and expressive, shrill vocal acrobatics become a little much („Play Your Games”). More than one song on „Palace for the People” starts to wear you down for precisely that reason. At this point, I honestly think Josh may be the band’s biggest problem. You do not have to look far for evidence – just play the opening track, „Into the Beginning”.
If you manage to get through that irritating intro with its bizarre vocal chants, and if you are willing to overlook a few other flaws, there are some genuinely good moments to be dug out of „Palace for the People”. „Heart and the Beast” is a straightforward rock ’n’ roll number that, for the most part, stays out of its own way. It is catchy, energetic, and features a genuinely strong solo. Whatever criticism can be thrown at Greta Van Fleet, Jake Kiszka’s playing has never been something the band needed to apologize for. Next comes „Boughten Bliss”, another attempt at a grand, uplifting ballad. On first listen, everything seems to be exactly where it belongs: acoustic guitar, symphonic flourishes, and an atmosphere built on a suitably large scale. For most of the song, however, it is difficult to shake the feeling that the band is pushing the grandeur a little too hard. Even so, the final two minutes are genuinely satisfying.
Things get even stranger with „Fields of Stars”. The song sits at a medium tempo, and at times Josh Kiszka’s vocals even bring Kate Bush to mind. It is also a good example of Greta Van Fleet’s still-unfulfilled ambitions to play progressive rock. Interestingly enough, for a brief stretch in the middle of the track, they actually pull it off. One of the strongest songs on the album’s first half, for me, is the relatively unassuming „Dreams You Hold”. Sam Kiszka’s bass works beautifully, Jake gets room for more extended solos, and the whole composition is surprisingly coherent. Everything falls into place so well that even Josh’s vocals – which, as I mentioned earlier, can be a problem on this record – never really get in the way.
Later on, „Palace for the People” also offers a few attempts to move beyond classic hard rock. Greta Van Fleet increasingly looks toward folk, country, and world music. „Lost in the Golden”, another song with progressive ambitions, brings in Middle Eastern touches. It is one of the bolder experiments on the album, and to the band’s credit, it is genuinely intriguing. „Touch Again” is far less convincing. The group tries to take the listener toward psychedelic rock, but the unnecessary orchestration woven around the harmonica sounds like a collection of ideas thrown into the same bag without much of a plan. This is one of those moments where Greta Van Fleet clearly loses its sense of direction and cannot quite decide where it wants to go. „Saw You Stand”, meanwhile, is another fairly traditional ballad built largely around Josh Kiszka’s vocal fireworks in the chorus.
The weakest point in the closing stretch is probably „Heya”. The main problem is the lyric. Repeating „Heya, heya I wanna live for you here / Heya, heya, before our time is through” is hardly a showcase of the band’s writing abilities – and there are plenty of lines like that scattered across the album. For me, it is pure filler, and not even the obligatory solo in the second half can save it. Fortunately, the album finishes much more strongly. „Call My Own” is light, catchy, completely harmless, and features a fantastic solo, while „Born into This” develops slowly and makes a genuinely strong impression. The latter, in particular, shows the band at its best. Kiszka’s voice finally stops dominating everything, the arrangement is properly balanced, and the song feels like a summary of many of the ideas scattered across the rest of the album. There are orchestral arrangements, world-music influences, a touch of country, and above all the thing Greta Van Fleet still does best: a sincere fascination with 1970s rock.
With Greta Van Fleet, some things never really change. Despite whatever the promotional buildup may have promised, we are still getting another album that feels very typical of this band. Will I return to it? Probably not. I would much rather put on „Houses of the Holy” or „Physical Graffiti”, and if I am in the mood for something more progressive, I am far more likely to reach for Rush. On the other hand, if you already enjoy Greta Van Fleet’s earlier work, or simply feel nostalgic for 1970s rock, you will almost certainly find something to like on „Palace for the People”.