Black Smoke Rising
Greta Van Fleet
"Black Smoke Rising" reaches for something more ceremonial than "Highway Tune" — the tempo is slower, the mood heavier with implication. The opening riff has a churning, ritualistic quality, like something being invoked. Kiszka leans into his higher register with a deliberateness that feels almost liturgical, the band beneath him finding a locked groove that suggests not just blues-rock but the deeper, older dirt those forms were built on. The imagery is elemental: fire, smoke, ascent — the specific American mythology of burning away the old to make room for something transcendent. Emotionally the song sits at the intersection of personal and spiritual ambition, the feeling of standing at the edge of something vast and not quite knowing if you're going to be adequate to it. Greta Van Fleet wear their influences openly and the argument for that openness is that the feeling they're reaching for is real, even when the forms are familiar. Put this on at dusk, somewhere with a view of sky, and the song will tell you exactly what it was for.
medium
2010s
heavy, elemental, warm
American blues rock revival
Rock, Blues Rock. Hard Rock/Ceremonial Rock. ceremonial, spiritual. Rises from a churning invocation toward a feeling of standing at the edge of something vast and transcendent.. energy 7. medium. danceability 5. valence 6. vocals: high, deliberate, liturgical, powerful, blues-rooted. production: churning guitar riff, locked rhythm groove, warm blues-rock foundation. texture: heavy, elemental, warm. acousticness 3. era: 2010s. American blues rock revival. At dusk somewhere with a wide view of open sky, letting the elemental imagery land.