Marshalling their strength after the dark interlude of Presence – a period that extended far after its 1976 release, with the band spending a year in tax exile and Robert Plant suffering another personal tragedy when his son died – Led Zeppelin decided to push into new sonic territory on their eighth album, In Through the Out Door. A good deal of this aural adventurism derived from internal tensions within the band…
Houses of the Holy follows the same basic pattern as Led Zeppelin IV, but the approach is looser and more relaxed. Jimmy Page's riffs rely on ringing, folky hooks as much as they do on thundering blues-rock, giving the album a lighter, more open atmosphere…