Album review: Greta Van Fleet - Palace for the People

In the age of two minute songs, Greta Van Fleet is here to remind us that sometimes music just needs a little more time. Their new album Palace for the People is full of songs that are more than four minutes long. It's an album that doesn't seem particularly interested in rushing anywhere, instead inviting you to sit back and enjoy the journey. With themes of love, finding a place to call home and looking beyond humanity itself, Greta Van Fleet are clearly maturing, both in their sound and in their message.

The album opens with Into the Beginning, a short instrumental introduction built around simple strings before drums and vocals join in with an almost ceremonial feel. It's a masterful way to set the mood for what's to come, immediately giving the record a sense of grandeur.

Tear It Down follows with what almost feels like a protest song or an invitation to a revolution. Interestingly, though, the music itself remains surprisingly calm. Rather than hitting you over the head with its message, the song draws you in gradually. I can see how this approach might not work for everyone, as it doesn't quite deliver the explosive energy you might expect, but I personally appreciate the way it pulls you into its world.

Fortunately, Boughten Bliss more than makes up for it. Starting with a beautiful acoustic guitar intro, the song immediately feels more intimate, with heartfelt vocals leading into a chorus melody that really sticks with you. The vocal performance is particularly impressive, and the whole song feels genuinely emotional. Beneath the beautiful melody, there's also a more critical message about luck and the idea that happiness or success can be bought.

Field of Stars once again showcases the lead singer’s impressive vocals that have become such an essential part of Greta Van Fleet's sound. Its perspective is particularly interesting, looking at humanity from the outside. It's a fitting addition to an album that seems increasingly interested in questions that go beyond our everyday lives.

If you need something to get you moving again after all that introspection, Play Your Games is here to help. What a fun song! At “just” 3:16, it's also the shortest full song on the album.

There are a few songs on the album that don't leave such a strong impression. Heart and the Beat is one of the less memorable moments for me. The verses work better than the chorus initially, although it does grow on you as the song progresses. Heya has a lovely instrumental opening and sounds a little closer to Greta Van Fleet's older material and Call My Own has particularly cool backing vocals, but these songs happen to fall a little short for me compared to some of the album's stronger moments. 

Dreams You Hold takes things in a slightly darker direction, opening with an ominous atmosphere that immediately caught my attention. The pre-chorus is particularly cool, building tension in a way that makes you want to hear where the song will go next.

Then comes Lost in the Golden, one of the more mysterious tracks on the album. With its eerie atmosphere and what feels like oriental influences, it explores themes of spiritual awakening and what might lie beyond death. It fits well into the album's wider interest in life, humanity and whatever might exist beyond what we can understand.

Touch Again brings things back to something more personal, focusing on the longing for closeness. It's a quieter emotional theme compared to the questions about humanity and the afterlife explored elsewhere on the album, but it fits naturally into a record that seems to be searching for connection in all its forms.

Saw You Stand, the lead single, caught my attention from the very first time it was released, and it remains one of my favourite moments on the album. It's a power ballad that gets pretty much everything right. The vocals are perfect, the instrumental parts are just as impressive, and the guitar solo is beautiful. What I particularly love is how the lead singer Josh Kiszka knows when to pull back and when to let his voice take over completely. 

And for last, but definitely not least, we arrive at Born into This, nearly a six-and-a-half-minute piece that feels like a perfect way to close the album. The way the instrumental in the song unfolds easily lures you in to appreciate every second of it without feeling too long or uneventful. 

Beyond the individual songs, what stands out is how much Greta Van Fleet seem to be growing into themselves. As the band members explained, the band have come to realise that their music has become a place where people find connection, an idea that feels very relevant to this album. 

Greta Van Fleet are successfully refining their sound, experimenting with different atmospheres and continue to explore themes that feel bigger than the world itself. In an era when everything seems designed to grab your attention as quickly as possible, Greta Van Fleet is willing to let a song breathe, let a melody develop and let an instrumental section take you somewhere unexpected.

Palace of the People also became the band's fifth album to soar to the top of Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums chart.

Favourite songs: Boughten Bliss, Saw You Stand, Born into This