After discovering Greta Van Fleet on YouTube, I became an immediate fan. Their whole ‘70s rock schtick pretty much fit right in with my music taste. I’ve listened to their first EP, “From the Fires,” many times over. So, the release of their debut album was one of my most anticipated releases of 2018. And Oct. 19, they finally delivered with “Anthem of the Peaceful Army.” So, after a few listens of the full album, my verdict is: meh.

“Anthem of the Peaceful Army” (AOTPA) delivers pretty much on message. Every piece you would expect is there: overdriven guitar riffs and lengthy solos, hard banging drum fills, wailing vocals and pseudo-mystical rambling lyrics. AOTPA ends up sounding exactly how you would expect it to—and that’s the issue. I hoped that, given the criticism the band has received, they would have tried to at least somewhat step out from their Led Zeppelin knockoff image, but sadly they have only further reinforced that. Any of the songs off this album could have reasonably been a long-lost Zeppelin throwaway, which doesn’t bode well for a band trying to establish themselves as their own, unique group.

The biggest problem with Greta Van Fleet is trying to figure out where their influences end and where they begin. They’re a good rock band with four incredibly talented members, but they aren’t really any better than the sum of their parts. They aren’t really adding anything new to a genre that is already losing relevance in popular music. Greta Van Fleet thus far merely serve as a novelty reminder of an era long past. Listening to them invokes much the same emotions as going to a ‘50s style restaurant. That ‘70s nostalgia factor is a powerful selling point, giving both those old enough to remember and those too young to have been there a taste of what they want. But that appeal factor of novelty can only take them so far for so long.

All young bands to some degree are derivative of their influences and over time learn to define their own sound. Greta Van Fleet, unfortunately, don’t really try at all to negate this. A song like “When the Curtain Falls” pretty much takes the Zeppelin guitar-driven rock formula and runs with it. “You’re The One” musically is almost a carbon copy of “Your Time Is Gonna Come” off of “Led Zeppelin 1.” It’s easy for Greta Van Fleet to boast about being a “true rock band,” but the “true” in that claim relies on, as Stewart Copeland would say, the “borrowed chest hair” of their musical idols and not much else.

Nevertheless, the songs here are good, and AOTPA is a pretty solid debut album. For many, Greta Van Fleet have scratched the itch that the absence of a true hard rock band has created. Anyone who likes Led Zeppelin, Queen, Aerosmith or any other ‘70s rock band will probably find something to like in AOTPA. But beyond that nostalgic appeal, there isn’t much to distinguish AOTPA as a truly great rock record. Hopefully Greta Van Fleet will find their own musical voice in future projects and not hold onto the ‘70s sound as their only lifeline.