The Battle at Garden's Gate

The band commenced on writing material for a second studio album directly after finishing their debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, which released in October 2018.[4] As early as January 2019, bassist Sam Kiszka indicated that the album was scheduled for sometime in 2019 as well.[5] Recording sessions occurred in a concentrated 2-month period in mid-2019.[6] The album was recorded with musical producer Greg Kurstin, who at the time had worked with Foo Fighters on Concrete and Gold and Medicine at Midnight.[7]

Early 2019 commentary from the band on the album noted that it would thematically have a "more worldly" feel than their prior work, inspired by the band's seeing the world through touring.[8] Additionally, they aimed to create "an evolution to their sound" after their prior album received a lot of commentary, both positive and negative, of being very similar to the work of other bands such as Led Zeppelin.[6] Upon the reveal of the album's name of The Battle at Garden's Gate in late 2020, they expanded on the themes, noting that it was "definitely a biblical reference" but that the album expanded well beyond that, into the idea of "ancient civilizations" and "parallel universe[s]".[9] The band explores the human experience, and how religion and war affect it.[7][9] The album was described as more dark, cinematic, and complicated than their prior album.[10] Seeing dark instances of poverty and famine while touring inspired its more dire sound.[11]

The band released their first single from the album, "My Way, Soon", in October 2020.[7][12] The song was debuted and performed live on December 8 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, complete with costumes and stage setup similar to 1970s' music programs.[12] A second song, "Age of Machine", was released in December 2020.[13] In January, "My Way, Soon" topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, their fifth song to top the chart.[14]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	64/100[15]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[16]
Classic Rock	[17]
Consequence of Sound	B[18]
Exclaim!	7/10[19]
Kerrang!	4/5[20]
NME	[21]
The Observer	[22]
PopMatters	3/10[23]
Rolling Stone	[24]
Sputnikmusic	4.0/5[25]

The album was featured in multiple "Most Anticipated Albums of 2021" lists, including from publications Rolling Stone,[26] Vulture,[27] and Ultimate Classic Rock.[28]

The guitar solo of "Age of Machine" was elected by Guitar World's readers as the best of 2021.[29]

A reader's poll conducted by Total Guitar magazine ranked the guitar solo from the album's concluding 9-minute epic "The Weight of Dreams" as the greatest guitar solo of the 21st century.[30]

The album was also named the 2022 Clio Music Bronze award winner.[31]

Greta Van Fleet

• Joshua Kiszka – vocals, background vocals
• Jacob Kiszka – guitar, backing vocals
• Samuel Kiszka – bass, keyboards, background vocals
• Daniel Wagner – drums, background vocals

Additional musicians

• Jacob Braun – cello (1, 3, 7, 8, 12)
• Alma Fernandez – viola (1, 3, 7, 8, 12)
• Charlie Bisharat – violin (1, 3, 7, 8, 12)
• Songa Lee – violin (1, 3, 7, 8, 12)

Technical

• Greg Kurstin – production, engineering
• Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
• Julian Burg – engineering
• Alex Pasco – engineering
• Matt Wolach – mixing assistance
• Matt Tuggle – recording assistance (1–8, 11, 12)
• Peter Luretig – recording assistance (1–8, 11, 12)
• Brian Rajaratnam – recording assistance (1–8, 11, 12)