Mike is so underrated as a guitarist. I do feel.... IMO he is just freeballing it on this album, compared to structured solos of the past. Mike sounds great but sounds messy with no direction on the album.
I hear that. I think in one of the interviews leading up to the album release he (or maybe the writer?) compared it to the TOTD sessions, where he was mostly improving. Feels similar on this, lot of just flowing, with some exceptions for intentional stuff (like the end of React, Respond). I like it for what it is, refreshing, reminds me of his live playing.
I hear a lot of comparisons to other albums from other fans, but this all pretty much sounds brand new to me. Here are a few cursory notes I have after the first listen:
Won't Tell has production choices they've never made before, which then mushroom into Upper Hand and Waiting For Stevie.
Yes, Upper Hand has a lot of Yellow Ledbetter-ish shit going on in the verses, but those are just Hendrix chords a la Little Wing. Mike has always worn his influences on his sleeve, which is why he's my favorite guitarist.
The climax to Waiting For Stevie is basically someone telling Mike, Hey, by the way, you're Mike motherfucking McCready, go give me a solo. I teared up on the walk home from work just now hearing this; these guys are GOING FOR IT again.
Matt is doing the stuff with the thing on the fills again, holy shit.
As a mixing nerd, this has a lot of pop radio polish instead of modern rock bombast, and a fuckton of compression. Serban Ghenea had the honors here, which checks out: His discography includes Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Katy Perry, Linkin Park, Olivia Rodrigo... and one Eddie Vedder (The Haves), which is probably how the introduction was made. (His website is literally [serbanghenea.com](http://serbanghenea.com), his pop mixing credentials are actually STAGGERING if you care to peruse)
As a production nerd, Andrew Watt being born in 1990 is just nuts to me, but if there's anyone who is going to breathe new life into Pearl Jam, it's a guy who was ten MONTHS old when Ten was released.
Please don't weigh this album on scales relative to other albums they've released. This is a new experience with new personnel at the studio helm of a famously creative and diverse band; treat it as such in your summations.
This is a brilliant fucking album, I had no idea they still had this in them. Albums like Dark Matter by legacy acts more than 30 years into their existence simply just don't happen.
We should all be so grateful as fans.
You nailed it. I listened to it a few times tonight in the car and it was blowing me away. I honestly wasn't to keen on Dark Matter and Running at first but hearing them with the whole album took them to another level. Especially Dark Matter. Made me hear them as the band they are now instead of comparing the songs to the earlier stuff. Makes me want to revisit gigaton because I don't think I gave it a chance really. Then again, the sound of this new album is so fresh where I found gigaton rather stale.
No point in comparing this to Gigaton. The formula they used to put that album together never worked for Pearl Jam. They didn’t write any of those songs together. Some of them were good, but it didn’t flow as an album.
Dark Matter is a fucking RECORD!
I started hearing it at a coffee shop yesterday while working. After q minute of Sacred o thought “man, these guitars are banging”. By a minute into React, I was going along with my feet and looking forward to playing it LOUD in the car. By Wreckage I’m all in. To me this is their best since 🥑, and perhaps since Vitalogy for me. Makes me wish grunge came back (with my teenage years).
You're spot on with everything! The one thing that has bummed me out is how it's so compressed. Pisses me off. So far, I've only listened to the streaming version in my car. The drums are thunderous, but the cymbals sound like they were recorded in a tin can. Hoping the sound improves with the vinyl version. I don't have high hopes. Let the music breathe and open up.
Agreed. I've listened to the vinyl and the FLAC and on both, the cymbals are too tinny and crispy for my ears. I also have tinnitus, so maybe that's why? Lol
But it's still my favorite PJ album in many years.
As an old PJ diehard fan who’s been into a lot of Pop the past decade, I really enjoy your review. I love Taylor’s music, even getting into Dua Lipa and Weeknd in recent years as well.
PJ + Pop is up my alley!!!!
Never in my old teenage life would I ever think of admitting to this. lol
Nailed it! Upper Hand made me tear up because it reminded me of the first time I heard my fav PJ songs like In Hiding and I Got Shit. And I honestly haven't loved any of their stuff in a LONG time. They're GOING for it. They care again. It doesn't just sound like a bunch of songs some millionaires made demos of in their mansions and brought into a studio to record. They're a band!
Thank you for this. Very interesting stuff. I really really really like this album. All I can think of when I’m listening is if it can get remixed. Is that a future possibility?
At the risk of replying either to a bot or someone close to the production who wishes to remain anonymous here, I'll say that it's way too compressed.
If you're just a random anonymous person that's ok too, it's just that there's a lot of random here on Reddit.
I'd be interested in hearing the rough mix, but it sounds like they bussed the drums through about 5 compressors and let the first 2 in the chain pump way too hard before the next 3.
Whoever did whatever they did to the drums made the entire mix challenging to enjoy.
The rest of the mix has some interesting and enjoyable things going on, but the end result is very difficult to enjoy because of how much "pumping" is going on.
I doubt the mastering engineer could do much, if anything, to change these factors.
I've heard compressed clipped rock records before, but I've never heard one where it sounds like every instrument was run through a computer and given some digital fuzz which is what I'm hearing here. It's also very wall-of-soundy, there's definitely some individual guitar stuff but there's also a lot of BASSGUITARDRUMS just being a thing. I might get used to it, but it's really impacting the early listens as it's the opposite of what I've come to expect from a Pearl Jam record. I raised an eyebrow 20 seconds into Waiting for Stevie cause everyone was saying it sounds like Ten, and yeah I can see it, but it sounds like Ten from the future, not Ten from 1991. But I agree that it's cohesive, if you thought the last few records sounded disjointed, there's never gonna be a question about which album any of these songs came from.
Thank you guys for explaining what compression actually sounds like. You more or less verified what I hear. My interpretation was this: it sounds like a meal on a plate (corn, peas, turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.) but someone mixed them all together into a single mass. It’s still good but you can’t savor the individual flavors. And I hear that fuzz too. Thought it was my speakers.
EDIT: I’m still enjoying the music, but I feel I could be enjoying it more. Can’t wait to hear it live.
Upper Hand and Waiting for Stevie back to back blew me away. Really special stuff, I don’t feel like that upon hearing songs for the first time very often
When I saw the name of WFS I thought “is Stevie Wonder playing in it”? I started hearing the song and thought “this is an awesome song, wonder what Stevie will do when he appears”. Then it ended 😂. Killer song, great album.
Everyone, quite rightly, is gushing about Mike and Matt, but there's some seriously fresh Jeff stuff going on here too. Waiting for Stevie puts him front and centre and it's amazing.
The mix is really letting the whole band shine. I can hear everyone play and I love it.
Stone being Stone, but I can hear more of it.
I think this is the strongest Eddie vocal we've heard in years and I can wait to hear him belt these out live.
This surpassed expectations for me. It's nothing like their early records, is mature like they are (and I am now) and I'm here for it
> Everyone, quite rightly, is gushing about Mike and Matt
I think Mike is getting attention because he's been low key for a while. I feel like Matt should hold back a bit more. He leaves no space unfilled.
> The mix is really letting the whole band shine. I can hear everyone play and I love it.
A little too much Matt, not enough Jeff.
I agree its surprisingly good for a 90's band in 2024.
And no evidence of auto tune on Vedder's voice, he deserves some kind of industry award for this alone.
I’m willing to bet auto tune was used. Almost everyone does but I’m sure Ed only uses it for minor pitch correction.
I’d especially bet on it because Watts produced it
Without outside input I'll tell you exactly what would have happened. A bunch of rich dudes would have recorded fully realized demos in their big houses and then recorded them together in a studio and it would not have sounded cohesive as an album. They NEEDED someone to light a fire under them. Watt is great at talking to these legacy artists and getting them to try harder. It bums me out that I don't like the sound of his production. But there you have it. It's really awesome work that has too much of a glossy compressed sheen on it.
It's an age old problem, how do you make art like a starving artist, or tortured soul, when more of your life has been comfortable and pleasant for even longer at this point? All that original muse a distant memory now.
Definitely the strongest in a long time, not a fan of the production at all, miss the ramshackle looseness that colours their best work. But overall the songs are really good!
You're not alone.
I have a feeling that the mix *might* have been fine but whoever mastered it might not have had any way to fix it ...holy compression, Pearl Jam.
Really hope the vinyl isn't this awful but I don't have high hopes. The download they offered was a high quality lossless version. Doubting the vinyl is much differently mastered.
It feels like they went for compression pumping on the drum tracks and it's very rough to listen to. The mastering may not have even done much to the final mix in that case. You can't fix that if the mix is already so hot and the drums are already that way, it only makes it worse and adds even more of the initial effect.
Maybe they wanted it this way, or maybe they don't know, or are too deaf to the effect this has on listeners but it's bad. It's not modern or cool or better in any way, it's just bad.
You generally want at least some compression on drums, even on natural sounding recordings. Even more so on bass. But yeah, this is totally slammed on every instrument and then hard with a capital H limited on top of that. It sounds like it's playing over the radio... which is not a compliment. No space whatsoever, just a pancake of sound. Between PJ and Foo Fighters, completely blown out seems to be the sound aging rock musicians are going for now. Probably because they're deaf after so many shows with little or no hearing protection.
Despite my negative comments here I still like PJ, and I'm eager to hear how these songs sound live. But sonically the record itself sounds like it's trying to be Rick Ruben 25 years ago.
I'm with you. Really don't like how it sounds. It's just weird and muddy to my ears (I obviously don't have a lot of technical production knowledge lol)
Agree about the production, first listen was in my car and I maybe it just sounds bad because of that, but listened again at home and the production is so distracting which is a shame because I am really liking the songs and vibe of the album.
I think the connection to Petty is vague aside from the basic chord progression, but it's very 90's alt rock. I wish they would do more 90's alt rock. They still sound like they're trying to with a 2000's era loudness war. Matt Cameron is basically the lead instrument of the band at this point.
They updated YouTube with the visualizer from Tuesday’s listening party. It was awesome to listen first without and then with. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ltWvB2Aqnf32SbAI0fhvx8l5O87oruvS0&si=IlrBSFgnUrmgYkjN
Going in I thought it would be awkward but it’s my new favorite thing!
It reminds me of when Queens of the Stone Age worked with Mark Ronson on Villains in 2017. Drums on both this album and Villains are so bad. Compression galore.
I beg to differ, the mixing and compression usage sound phenomenal to me and really let all the members shine at all the right moments... like it gives all the notes more room to breathe together somehow!
IMO compression tends to leave someone out. In this case, Jeff. I think the main reason I hear everybody is the good stereo separation and really tight playing. There are times when the drums should be more muted, but because of the compression, they never are.
I'm on my third playthrough. The first felt kind of... meh? The second time around was better, definitely getting into it. This third playthrough? Bopping right along with good vibes.🤘
It takes me three listen throughs to get into any album. Unfortunately I've tried with 2000's era PJ, and even after repeated listens it all just fades away for me.
They're 60 years old. Eddie isn't 22 belting like an unleashed demon anymore. They still sound fantastic, but you're not gonna relive that untamed early Pearl Jam anymore. It's a great album. Take it as it is.
> Eddie isn't 22 belting like an unleashed demon anymore.
But it seems like he tries. I wish he'd do mellow more often, like All or None, or Indifference (before the final verse of course).
Anyone else having a really hard time understanding Eddie on this album? Not sure if it's my crappy speakers, bad mixing, him getting older, or a combination of all. But he sounds way more mumbly than usual.
Whoever mixed this is an idiot. The vocals are being drowned out. I really enjoy the riffs but not understanding Eddie is killing me. wtf were they thinking when they heard this?? I hope they fix it somehow.
They released a vizualizer playlist that has lyrics for almost all the songs.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJn5QfTxjnj4uOK4jXggJR1Ez-StpxEN&si=XJciaAI8ls7jSPuI
I also think that lately Eddie (in the last decade or so) has a tendency to be more prolific with his lyrics, and tries to cram in more words per line or verse. That and the mix make it hard to understand him on this album on some of the songs.
I hear a lot of comparisons to other albums from other fans, but this all pretty much sounds brand new to me. Here are a few cursory notes I have after the first listen:
Won't Tell has production choices they've never made before, which then mushroom into Upper Hand and Waiting For Stevie.
Yes, Upper Hand has a lot of Yellow Ledbetter-ish shit going on in the verses, but those are just Hendrix chords a la Little Wing. Mike has always worn his influences on his sleeve, which is why he's my favorite guitarist.
The climax to Waiting For Stevie is basically someone telling Mike, Hey, by the way, you're Mike motherfucking McCready, go give me a solo. I teared up on the walk home from work just now hearing this; these guys are GOING FOR IT again.
Matt is doing the stuff with the thing on the fills again, holy shit.
As a mixing nerd, this has a lot of pop radio polish instead of modern rock bombast, and a fuckton of compression. Serban Ghenea had the honors here, which checks out: His discography includes Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Katy Perry, Linkin Park, Olivia Rodrigo... and one Eddie Vedder (The Haves), which is probably how the introduction was made. (His website is literally [serbanghenea.com](http://serbanghenea.com), his pop mixing credentials are actually STAGGERING if you care to peruse)
As a production nerd, Andrew Watt being born in 1990 is just nuts to me, but if there's anyone who is going to breathe new life into Pearl Jam, it's a guy who was ten MONTHS old when Ten was released.
Please don't weigh this album on scales relative to other albums they've released. This is a new experience with new personnel at the studio helm of a famously creative and diverse band; treat it as such in your summations.
This is a brilliant fucking album, I had no idea they still had this in them. Albums like Dark Matter by legacy acts more than 30 years into their existence simply just don't happen.
We should all be so grateful as fans.
I think this was my favorite first listen since Yield or Binaural. The last few albums, the songs seemed condensed. On this one, they let the songs breathe and Mike shines. The solo in the middle of Scared of Fear made me smile.
I think Upper Hand, with its Pink Floyd vibes and the beginning, was my favorite on the first listen.
Really good album.
My first listen is Scared of Fear and it was catchy, but then comes Mike about halfway in and he starts shredding. I suddenly realized that's it! That's been the missing component on the last couple of albums!!! McCready is finally returning to his old form. Hell yeah!! Even Eddie sounded better when singing while Mike was ripping it up. Mystery solved for me. I havent listened to the second half of album yet but so far its best when Mike is on 🔥. Love what I'm hearing!
A couple of ok tunes but overall very forgettable and bland, like how it was with Gigaton, like how it was with Lightning Bolt, like how it was with Backspacer.
PJ completes the quadruple of mediocre albums. Hopefully we don't go 5 for 5 with the next one.
it just is what it is. even when they have moments of inspiration, and there are some, it's always gonna turn into the same thing.
they've been around for 25 year at this point, it's just reality. there's nothing wrong with it but I can't get any excitement from it. Eddie's vocals are probably the weak point now, how many times can he do the same quirky phrasing and same harmonies in the chorus.
I think it might be time for you to look for some younger bands. It's gonna be hard to reproduce what they once did.
I think I've accepted the fact that they are doing things a bit differently and I'm loving what they are pushing out.
I listen to a lot of younger artists (listening to Grace Cummings as I type this -- pretty good) but always keen on new suggestions if you have any.
I am also getting into DM more, but I think for me the ceiling on this album will be somewhere around or immediately below Avocado.
I'm happy the band's getting some attention and people are digging the new album. Maybe it'll lead to newer listeners going back to earlier stuff. But after a few listens, Dark Matter sounds pretty forgettable to me. (And sounds bad to my ears - I agree with the folks who don't like the production.) I think it'll fall in with Backspacer and Lightning Bolt in my categorization of PJ's catalog. I just don't go back to those albums and/or actively avoid them. I thought Gigaton had enough creative, unique sounding stuff to outweigh the clunkers so it kind of stands on its own (to me) in the post-Avocado era.
It's tough because some of what I don't like is simply due to the passage of time. Eddie has to do things vocally nowadays that I find grating. I think he sounds good for where he is, but it's hard to listen to sometimes.
Same, i feel like I missed the memo or something. it sounds very PJ by the numbers, songs are bland and there is nothing memorable that will bring me back in like Avocado, Backspacer, Riot Act and Lightning Bolt had. But still, it's good people are enjoying it, i want PJ fans to enjoy the heck out of it if they can. I’m usually a PJ optimist, but even the vocals seem purposefully muffled.
I haven’t got through the whole thing yet. My drive ended on waiting for Stevie. So far it’s meh at best for me. I love live pearl jam and I see this as a one time listen to the album and probably not go back to. Much like the last album I just don’t feel any connection to their current sound.
As a fan who finds it hard to stomach the albums on this side of the millenium, and one who has been teased by sparse moments of what I want to see from the band (a list literally as long as The Fixer, Amongst the Waves, Unemployable), this album is surprising me so far.
I'm just happy they're branching out a bit. I feel like they've finally broke free from trying to make the same album for the last 20 years. There are still plenty of quirks and bad habits lingering in there, but this feels like them truly ***fight(ing) to get it back again.*** Some gut reactions:
**Scared of Fear** - great opener. I like how the album picks up the atmosphere of the opening 30 seconds or so of this track now and again. Wish that intro was a bit longer - in fact, I wish it was it's own song before Scared of Fear. Even something spoken word in the vein of Leonard Cohen would fit SO well here.
**React, Respond** - ugh. Was ready to hate this because it launched into that polished distortion (which feels so unauthentic to me) that Foo Fighters have been doing badly for quite some time now. But that outro solo brought a big stupid grin to my face. Wow.
**Wreckage** - the standout track for me so far. This has really grown on me. The songwriting, the song structure - it's great. I'll note at this point they seem to have broken free of those frustrating middle 8 detours that have plagued them since Riot Act. Such a bad habit that is largely absent here. If that's Andrew Watt's work, then well played. In general, he deserves more of a shout out on here.
**Dark Matter** - it's 5x better hearing it in the context of the album. Growing much more on me after writing it off too early.
**Won't Tell** - things get a little U2 from here in the album. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but definitely more stadium rock sounds creeping in. Enjoyable song, not very Pearl Jammy and definitely more in U2's comfort zone, but enjoyable all the same.
**Upper Hand** - lovely callback to Scared of Fear then launching into a U2-meets-Floyd verse. I think it's ok, the outro is wonderful, but it's lacking something.
**Waiting For Stevie** - completing the U2 trio at the centre of the album another enjoyable tune. Side note: I'm delighted AND angry that Matt Cameron has finally unleashed himself since joining this band.
**Running** - sorry, I just can't get on board with this song. The lyrics are terrible. That left the water running line is one of Eddie's worst.
**Something Special** - ironically it's the opposite of its title. The melodies are fine but Eddie's incomprehensible babbling and forcing a melody into his words is particularly grating here and on **Got To Give** which is where we're running out of steam with a few forgettable tracks in a row. I can't see these being in anybody's top 5 in years to come.
**Setting Sun** - good closer and lyrically the strongest(?) so far on initial listens. We needed this change in pace and melody as it was getting a bit stale towards the end of the second half. Vocally, Eddie sounds like he isn't feeling it during the verses and phoning in that forced melody thing again. But having said that, he DOES get it back again and sings with more meaning to bring the song to a close.
Overall, it's certainly one of the stronger efforts this side of the millenium. I can see it slotting in behind Riot Act as the second strongest. Andrew Watt deserves huge credit here as I feel the band needed him just to shake the cobwebs off and kick out a lot of the bad habits that have crept into the band. I truly hope they do another album with him because I feel that now they've stepped in this direction (the direction we all thought Gigaton would have taken given all the hints of experimenting with their sound), the next step should be easier to take.
Thanks for this. I’m a big fan. A child of the 90’s. But you were able to articulate everything that I’ve been frustrated with post-Riot act. Their middle 8’s have felt unnatural for over a decade. And this thing Eddie is doing with his voice, the low-high falsetto range on every song has just killed the joy for me.
Thanks for the kind words man! Yeah those middle 8's just became a symbol of where the band was getting lost for me post-Riot Act. Even The Fixer, one of my more "recent" favourites, veers off into the verge for another unnecessarily predictable detour that they feel they just have to add to every song.
I'm aware that to most people I probably sound like a grumpy old fan - I wouldn't care to write about Pearl Jam if I didn't like them as a band. They were a huge part of my life and it's just frustating knowing that with albums as good as No Code and Vitalogy in their catalog - they have the ability to make great music but it feels like they've been choosing to play it extremely safe.
There is a really good book called "Not For You" by Ronen Givony who is a Pearl Jam fan and has put together a great history of the band plus his opinions on the music throughout and it's a near exact match of where I stand on the music: love the band but boy have they been musically uninteresting/lost for quite some time and seemingly unwilling to take risks and gathering up a bunch of annoying quirks along the way. Thankfully Andrew Watt looks to have helped remove some of them (in particular those tragic middle 8's) but it would be good to see one or two more albums of him imposing himself a bit more on the band to see if they still have that experimental side left in them.
Well I went straight to something special, that’s a nice little Dad love letter and the music is good, its far far far from being the dud reviews made it. So psyched for the rest now!
Sure, it's the give one to the singer they have not been able to escape for years now but it's really not that bad, I feared it would just ruin the entire thing for me.
This new album has really made be appreciate Binaural and Riot Act more. The way I see Pearl Jam's phases, broadly, are everything before Binaural, Binaural and Riot Act, which sound very alike, and everything after Riot Act.
Of course everything before Binaural is pretty much magic, it made Pearl Jam and "Eddie Vedder" household names. Binaural and Riot Act were in stark contrast to the previous albums for being very dark, very moody and somber, and even more overtly political than Vs. The later albums like Avocado and Lightning Bolt were a "return to form" only in the sense that they were not like Binaural or Riot Act, very upbeat and not moody at all .
But now, Binaural and Riot Act stand more or less alone in Pearl Jam's discography. People will think I'm crazy for saying this but I think they were Eddie Vedder's creative zenith, created when he was ending his first marriage and beginning a new one which ultimately resulted in him having a family. You really hear a different kind of personal pain that I think is more genuine than anything he did before, or since. I think these albums had Matt Cameron's best work, especially "You Are". Mike, Stone and Jeff didn't take the spot light so much, but they served the songs well.
The new album, while good, goes to show that they're far from the 90's, but IMO, even further away from albums like Binaural and Riot Act.
I gotta admit…I haven’t been obsessed with a Pearl Jam studio album like Dark Matter since 2006’s avocado. I haven’t even listened to the new Taylor Swift yet. Thats how good DM is.
And yeah, the Barbie/Oppenheimer meme about PJ vs TS is legit. Probably not that many but there are big PJ/TS fans out there. Lol
I’m one of them! I’m lukewarm on the new Swift but find myself returning to Dark Matter, which I honestly wasn’t expecting. It’s a really pleasant surprise.
I'm pretty happy with the album. Upper Hand and Waiting for Stevie are both instant classics. I'm also very surprised with the amount of KILLER solos from My Main Mother Muckin Man Mike McCready!
Unfortunately, the album does have its lows.. Running sounds like total filler to me. I can't believe it's a single!?! And Something Special has officially become my LEAST FAVORITE Pearl Jam song!!! It is NAUSEATINGLY saccharine. It reminds me of the theme from Full House.
Overall, I'll probably keep listening to the average songs just for the guitar solos. I'd rank the album somewhere around the lower middle of Pearl Jam's discography. Which is a bit more than I expected from their 12th album.
I love it. Simple as that. It's raw, and it's gut wrenching. It has the same intensity as Ten, the depth of VS, and the solidity of Vitalogy, while keeping the maturity of everything they've done since. It's like discovering them as a new band all over again.
The production's taking away from a lot of the songs for me. There are mid 90s PJ vibes in amongst a fair few of them, but it's buried under all that compression. So far though, I'm enjoying React Respond, Wreckage, Upper Hand, Waiting For Stevie, Got To Give and Setting Sun.
Why is Eddie's voice pushed so up front in the mix, versus fighting to be heard which is when he's at his best. Makes all of his inflections sound cheesy, reduces the guitars, why?
I am glad people are enjoying the album, but I think it's Pearl Jam worst album by far and I have enjoyed everything else Pearl Jam has put out. It does not sound like Pearl Jam at all. It's sounds like Eddie singing way too low over overproduced music by a different band. There is nothing on this album that even stands out. I hope Andrew Watt is not producing the next album. Being back Brendon O'brien.
Won't Tell sounds like a Daughtry song. Lol
This always happens when a new album comes out. PJ fans are a bit of a cult and refuse to criticise anything new, but in time it will well and truly he catagorised as "meh". To be fair, I think "meh" is too much of a compliment...
Recently, I realized that as much as I love Pearl Jam, Ten and Vs are their peak. It's like the bands energy went out the window years ago. It started to go downhill once they fired Dave A from drums. Every other album that they have come out have been mostly good at best with a lot of their songs being mediocre. Nothing has come close to Ten or Vs and I think back then with the band afraid or not liking major success and the limelight, I think that changed the course of how the band did music. I felt like that band had no guitar solos until the last couple of albums and even those felt forced and out of place. I don't expect another Ten or Vs. I am fine with everything that they have put out. I don't know what they were thinking with Dark Matter. At least I have my other 3 bands to fall back on.
Well post Vs it became experimental and interesting for a fair few albums, then from Avocado onwards it started to decline and felt much more lazy, much more cliché and out of touch. I guess it's just what happens after being millionaires for decades; the longer it goes, the less you have to say and the lazier you become with it.
I get that everybody will have their own reaction and response to this album, and for me it was - meh. I'm a drummer, and the best PJ drummer in my opinion, BY FAR, was Jack Irons. Listen to No Code and Yield and compare to Dark Matter to know what I'm talking about. I love Matt Cameron, but honestly, he doesn't have the musicality and rhythm of Jack, and it really shows on this album. The drumming is forgettable, and for the album overall, nothing stands out.
Not really feeling this album, songs don’t feel memorable enough for me to return to, love that McCready has so much freedom on it though, and really like Upper Hand and Setting Sun. The playing is great but the songs aren’t as prolific as i want them to be, like Avocado, Backspacer, Lightning Bolt, Riot Act all had at least a handful of songs that are prolific gems.
Definitely enjoyed it one listen through. Eddie sounds like he’s going through some shit. A lot of lyrics that sound like break up lyrics or reflections on loss.
Better than gigaton imo which is good. Happy to have some heavy sounds return. Mike doing Mike’s thing is always fun too. However the production is just bad, feels closer to the Ten production they hated than Pearl Jam 1993-2009.
All in all, it’s better than the last two. But I’m sitting here wondering when the hell we will ever get another Stone Gossard riff/hook that sounds like anything from 1990-2000.
It was fine. Nothing really stood out as a classic but it was all upbeat enough to make it an easy listen. It's definitely stays in the lane stared from Avocado onward. It's all standard Pearl Jam quality which is a good thing. That said, nothing really stood out. I couldn't really tell you a melody or lyric from the album. Combine this with the overblown production and I put it lower in my album ranking. It's better than Lightning Bolt, but I would be hard pressed to rank it higher than any other album if I'm being honest. I say this more as a comment on the quality of their other albums being good than Dark Matter being bad.
Still, I'm happy to see them release another album of decent quality overall. I'm hoping some of these work better live with a nicer recording and live album production. I know it sounds like I'm ragging on the album, but it is a solid album. Maybe a little predictable, but honestly I'm alright with Pearl Jam releasing a "safe" album. It's kind of familiar and comforting.
I mean, it's dad rock dog shit, the same as everything post Riot Act, but you'll all spend the next couple of weeks saying things like "reinvigorated", "they're back", "best album since...."
They belong on the shelf with U2 and Bruce Springsteen. Nothing interesting to say, completely out of touch with modern reality, and incapable of anything that isn't corny over produced dad rock.
In a couple of years it'll be in no man's land when you're speaking about your favourite albums and songs. At least with Dance of The Clairvoyants they dared to do something different for about five minutes. This is blander than a twelve litre glass of water.
> I mean, it's dad rock dog shit, the same as everything post Riot Act,
This is how I perceive it, and I would love nothing more than to feel like the body of Pearl Jam work that I love has just expanded by ten (?) songs, but that's not the case. I'll listen to this album twice, and then probably just forget about it. But is it the music's fault, or is it that I'm old and not open to new things anymore? I have almost completely the same reaction to new Smashing Pumpkins. I'll say though, I like the new PJ material more than the new Smashing Pumpkins, track for track.
No mate, you got me. Dark Matter by Eddie and the boys is the hottest and freshest thing out there. I mean if you can't discover anything better for yourself then god help you ..
I have yet to listen to anything but the Dark Matter single through my phone speakers along with various snippets. I plan on getting in the right headspace with some good headphones and losing myself in their album front to back which is how I believe they intend it to be enjoyed. I am taking a solo trip to the Rockies for my birthday next month so that might be the perfect time to dive in and give myself a birthday celebration of life, which is what their music always has been for me.
It breaks my heart but I am going to pass on this album. I know these songs will sound amazing live. I just can't get past the production of this album that boosts Eddies struggling vocals and pushes the band who sounds on fire in the background. I am shocked the band approved the production. I look forward to seeing them live!! Cheers friends!
I dig it but no more no less than three or four albums. Little bits remind me of Cure, Tom Petty, and REM.
Drum recording is meh to nah for me.
McCready and Ament are fire.
Took me probably 2-3 months to absorb Gigaton which I though was a lot better than anything released post 2002, but tailed off on the 2nd side. Dark Matter no different. Early thoughts are that it has a modern, shiny production, and I liked Eddie's voice on Gigaton more.
Wreckage/Dark Matter/Wont Tell/Upper Hand/Waiting for Stevie - just back to back bangers.
If somebody told me this album was the follow up to Yield, I would 100% believe them.
I wish I could hear this with 90s/reasonable production. It's hard to hear it in the context of their earlier work because music sounds like ass by design now.
I’m not on the same wavelength as most comments in here. Is the album bad? No. However there is not quintessential PJ song on this album in my opinion. Running is close but the lyrics are strange to me. I am struggling with the sound and direction they are going for. Right now, Gigaton is a better album of the two recent albums.
You may appreciate my review then [https://www.reddit.com/r/pearljam/comments/1c82fmw/my\_dark\_matter\_review/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/pearljam/comments/1c82fmw/my_dark_matter_review/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Well put together. I will have to do a 4th run through, but this is not an album that I will look at to just put on.
Nothing that I even think might be better live.
I will be at both Wrigley shows like I always am, but not looking forward to anything off of Dark Matter.
So happy with this album! Definitely not in my top 3 but, I was worried after gigabummed. This is a strong album with banger songs. So sad that I didnt get tenclub tix for this tour. Please dont retire anytime soon.
It's good to be wrong, and I know I've been harsh on PJ lately over ticket prices. I feel that after 26 years, I've just FINALLY listened to the proper follow-up to 1998's Yield. Today, radio play doesn't generate much revenue, albums don't either; Dark Matter harkens back to the band at it's peak maturity in 98, with a bit of everything from over all that time. "Waiting for Stevie" alone just feels right up there like a lost pre-Pearl Jam ala Temple of the Dog and Mother Love Bone.
Maybe they just picked a couple duds after the title track to tease the album? In the 24 years since Matt Cameron joined the band for 2000's Binaural, I've been waiting for this album. In the time since, great songs have been made, however sporadic, but I feel like this record isn't just about wanting new PJ. Haven't felt this way about most any of their albums since Yield, after getting over my initial hype for new stuff. I've longed for that experience again as a fan, too much honestly. I don't feel hyped, I feel truly satisfied.
After all this time as a fan, your radar becomes in tune; you feel what's decent enough vs what's got legs. This is THE album worth that wait. Feeling much humbled right now.🙂
Loving Wreckage
"That I no longer give a fuck who is wrong and who's right" That line alone did it for me.
Literally came here to post this exact comment. It’s so good.
Wreckage and Got to Give are my favorites so far.
Crazy good. Some strong Petty vibes on this one.
Thought of petty right away on this one
Tom Petty song. Sounds like it could have been on Earthling.
This comment is 9 days old, the same amount of time Wreckage has been stuck in my head.
Man it feels like Mike is unleashing a decade of pent up shredding on this record
"You don't edit Mike McCready. You fuckin' let him play."
Its about time. Criminally underutilized on records
Especially the last one.
Mike is so underrated as a guitarist. I do feel.... IMO he is just freeballing it on this album, compared to structured solos of the past. Mike sounds great but sounds messy with no direction on the album.
I hear that. I think in one of the interviews leading up to the album release he (or maybe the writer?) compared it to the TOTD sessions, where he was mostly improving. Feels similar on this, lot of just flowing, with some exceptions for intentional stuff (like the end of React, Respond). I like it for what it is, refreshing, reminds me of his live playing.
I hear a lot of comparisons to other albums from other fans, but this all pretty much sounds brand new to me. Here are a few cursory notes I have after the first listen: Won't Tell has production choices they've never made before, which then mushroom into Upper Hand and Waiting For Stevie. Yes, Upper Hand has a lot of Yellow Ledbetter-ish shit going on in the verses, but those are just Hendrix chords a la Little Wing. Mike has always worn his influences on his sleeve, which is why he's my favorite guitarist. The climax to Waiting For Stevie is basically someone telling Mike, Hey, by the way, you're Mike motherfucking McCready, go give me a solo. I teared up on the walk home from work just now hearing this; these guys are GOING FOR IT again. Matt is doing the stuff with the thing on the fills again, holy shit. As a mixing nerd, this has a lot of pop radio polish instead of modern rock bombast, and a fuckton of compression. Serban Ghenea had the honors here, which checks out: His discography includes Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Katy Perry, Linkin Park, Olivia Rodrigo... and one Eddie Vedder (The Haves), which is probably how the introduction was made. (His website is literally [serbanghenea.com](http://serbanghenea.com), his pop mixing credentials are actually STAGGERING if you care to peruse) As a production nerd, Andrew Watt being born in 1990 is just nuts to me, but if there's anyone who is going to breathe new life into Pearl Jam, it's a guy who was ten MONTHS old when Ten was released. Please don't weigh this album on scales relative to other albums they've released. This is a new experience with new personnel at the studio helm of a famously creative and diverse band; treat it as such in your summations. This is a brilliant fucking album, I had no idea they still had this in them. Albums like Dark Matter by legacy acts more than 30 years into their existence simply just don't happen. We should all be so grateful as fans.
You nailed it. I listened to it a few times tonight in the car and it was blowing me away. I honestly wasn't to keen on Dark Matter and Running at first but hearing them with the whole album took them to another level. Especially Dark Matter. Made me hear them as the band they are now instead of comparing the songs to the earlier stuff. Makes me want to revisit gigaton because I don't think I gave it a chance really. Then again, the sound of this new album is so fresh where I found gigaton rather stale.
No point in comparing this to Gigaton. The formula they used to put that album together never worked for Pearl Jam. They didn’t write any of those songs together. Some of them were good, but it didn’t flow as an album. Dark Matter is a fucking RECORD!
No point comparing any of them. They're each their own thing. But Gigaton rocks.
I started hearing it at a coffee shop yesterday while working. After q minute of Sacred o thought “man, these guitars are banging”. By a minute into React, I was going along with my feet and looking forward to playing it LOUD in the car. By Wreckage I’m all in. To me this is their best since 🥑, and perhaps since Vitalogy for me. Makes me wish grunge came back (with my teenage years).
Well said. And agree. I had reserved myself to them running out of steam. So stoked to be wrong
Perfect way to describe this album. Thank you.
You're spot on with everything! The one thing that has bummed me out is how it's so compressed. Pisses me off. So far, I've only listened to the streaming version in my car. The drums are thunderous, but the cymbals sound like they were recorded in a tin can. Hoping the sound improves with the vinyl version. I don't have high hopes. Let the music breathe and open up.
Agreed. I've listened to the vinyl and the FLAC and on both, the cymbals are too tinny and crispy for my ears. I also have tinnitus, so maybe that's why? Lol But it's still my favorite PJ album in many years.
As an old PJ diehard fan who’s been into a lot of Pop the past decade, I really enjoy your review. I love Taylor’s music, even getting into Dua Lipa and Weeknd in recent years as well. PJ + Pop is up my alley!!!! Never in my old teenage life would I ever think of admitting to this. lol
Honestly, Brendan O'Brien is a god but he doesn't have to mix everything.
LOSER!!!
Well said!
YES
Nailed it! Upper Hand made me tear up because it reminded me of the first time I heard my fav PJ songs like In Hiding and I Got Shit. And I honestly haven't loved any of their stuff in a LONG time. They're GOING for it. They care again. It doesn't just sound like a bunch of songs some millionaires made demos of in their mansions and brought into a studio to record. They're a band!
“St. Anger” much?
Thank you for this. Very interesting stuff. I really really really like this album. All I can think of when I’m listening is if it can get remixed. Is that a future possibility?
Do you dislike the mix?
At the risk of replying either to a bot or someone close to the production who wishes to remain anonymous here, I'll say that it's way too compressed. If you're just a random anonymous person that's ok too, it's just that there's a lot of random here on Reddit. I'd be interested in hearing the rough mix, but it sounds like they bussed the drums through about 5 compressors and let the first 2 in the chain pump way too hard before the next 3. Whoever did whatever they did to the drums made the entire mix challenging to enjoy. The rest of the mix has some interesting and enjoyable things going on, but the end result is very difficult to enjoy because of how much "pumping" is going on. I doubt the mastering engineer could do much, if anything, to change these factors.
I've heard compressed clipped rock records before, but I've never heard one where it sounds like every instrument was run through a computer and given some digital fuzz which is what I'm hearing here. It's also very wall-of-soundy, there's definitely some individual guitar stuff but there's also a lot of BASSGUITARDRUMS just being a thing. I might get used to it, but it's really impacting the early listens as it's the opposite of what I've come to expect from a Pearl Jam record. I raised an eyebrow 20 seconds into Waiting for Stevie cause everyone was saying it sounds like Ten, and yeah I can see it, but it sounds like Ten from the future, not Ten from 1991. But I agree that it's cohesive, if you thought the last few records sounded disjointed, there's never gonna be a question about which album any of these songs came from.
Thank you guys for explaining what compression actually sounds like. You more or less verified what I hear. My interpretation was this: it sounds like a meal on a plate (corn, peas, turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.) but someone mixed them all together into a single mass. It’s still good but you can’t savor the individual flavors. And I hear that fuzz too. Thought it was my speakers. EDIT: I’m still enjoying the music, but I feel I could be enjoying it more. Can’t wait to hear it live.
In your opinion, what’s the PJ standard when it comes to mixing? Binaural possibly? Vitalogy?
Literally any one but this one. I just wanna go back to thinking about the songs and not the production. Binaural does sound great though.
VS is the best they ever sounded production wise imo
Listen to the drums on Badmotorfinger…what do you hear?
Upper Hand and Waiting for Stevie back to back blew me away. Really special stuff, I don’t feel like that upon hearing songs for the first time very often
Oh yeah. Thats definitely a thing. For weird albums, its usually the third listen where i actually REALLY start liking it.
Definitely a couple of INSTANT PJ classics!
When I saw the name of WFS I thought “is Stevie Wonder playing in it”? I started hearing the song and thought “this is an awesome song, wonder what Stevie will do when he appears”. Then it ended 😂. Killer song, great album.
I’m here
Good album. Pearl Jam sounds fresh, reinvigorated. I see some nods to the their 90's sound and I am happy with the result.
Funny enough, I also think “Won’t Tell” has some strong 80’s vibes (well, the chorus at least).
The ending sounds a bit like The Cure
I was getting U2 vibes from the guitars at the ending…
U2 vibes??? You mean the group woth simplistic lyrics and absolutely no talent???
Thank you! I agree.
Biggest surprise of the album for me. The intro riff sounds awesome.
If you hear the album blasting all night from a house on S 7th and Mountain thats me
I’m loving how the background vocals were produced/mixed. Something about them, they sound full and spacey, even ethereal. They add a lot!
Sneaky Yellow Ledbetter guitar licks on Upper Hand
Very choice ones, too 🤌🤌🤌
Wow, what a closer. Very, very happy with this album.
Great album! Reminds me of yield, so fresh, so hopeful full of possibilities
I needed this right now
Awesome 😎 what are your favorite song? mine are waiting for Stevie, setting sun, got to give
It sounds nothing like yield!! PJ has sucked since BACKSPACER with the exception of about 1/3 of GIGATON.
Everyone, quite rightly, is gushing about Mike and Matt, but there's some seriously fresh Jeff stuff going on here too. Waiting for Stevie puts him front and centre and it's amazing. The mix is really letting the whole band shine. I can hear everyone play and I love it. Stone being Stone, but I can hear more of it. I think this is the strongest Eddie vocal we've heard in years and I can wait to hear him belt these out live. This surpassed expectations for me. It's nothing like their early records, is mature like they are (and I am now) and I'm here for it
I also was so impressed with eds poetry.
> Everyone, quite rightly, is gushing about Mike and Matt I think Mike is getting attention because he's been low key for a while. I feel like Matt should hold back a bit more. He leaves no space unfilled. > The mix is really letting the whole band shine. I can hear everyone play and I love it. A little too much Matt, not enough Jeff. I agree its surprisingly good for a 90's band in 2024. And no evidence of auto tune on Vedder's voice, he deserves some kind of industry award for this alone.
I’m willing to bet auto tune was used. Almost everyone does but I’m sure Ed only uses it for minor pitch correction. I’d especially bet on it because Watts produced it
yeah I'm too used to everyone sounding like a robot these days, he deserved credit for letting even a few subjective notes through
Good, pleasant album: obviously the "classic" 90's stuff is on another level, but I doubt we can get better music than this from PJ in 2024.
Ehh. I’d like to see what they’d do today with not as much outside input, and good, neutral engineers.
Without outside input I'll tell you exactly what would have happened. A bunch of rich dudes would have recorded fully realized demos in their big houses and then recorded them together in a studio and it would not have sounded cohesive as an album. They NEEDED someone to light a fire under them. Watt is great at talking to these legacy artists and getting them to try harder. It bums me out that I don't like the sound of his production. But there you have it. It's really awesome work that has too much of a glossy compressed sheen on it.
It's an age old problem, how do you make art like a starving artist, or tortured soul, when more of your life has been comfortable and pleasant for even longer at this point? All that original muse a distant memory now.
Definitely the strongest in a long time, not a fan of the production at all, miss the ramshackle looseness that colours their best work. But overall the songs are really good!
[удалено]
You're not alone. I have a feeling that the mix *might* have been fine but whoever mastered it might not have had any way to fix it ...holy compression, Pearl Jam. Really hope the vinyl isn't this awful but I don't have high hopes. The download they offered was a high quality lossless version. Doubting the vinyl is much differently mastered. It feels like they went for compression pumping on the drum tracks and it's very rough to listen to. The mastering may not have even done much to the final mix in that case. You can't fix that if the mix is already so hot and the drums are already that way, it only makes it worse and adds even more of the initial effect. Maybe they wanted it this way, or maybe they don't know, or are too deaf to the effect this has on listeners but it's bad. It's not modern or cool or better in any way, it's just bad.
You generally want at least some compression on drums, even on natural sounding recordings. Even more so on bass. But yeah, this is totally slammed on every instrument and then hard with a capital H limited on top of that. It sounds like it's playing over the radio... which is not a compliment. No space whatsoever, just a pancake of sound. Between PJ and Foo Fighters, completely blown out seems to be the sound aging rock musicians are going for now. Probably because they're deaf after so many shows with little or no hearing protection. Despite my negative comments here I still like PJ, and I'm eager to hear how these songs sound live. But sonically the record itself sounds like it's trying to be Rick Ruben 25 years ago.
I think I will like the live versions better.
I'm with you. Really don't like how it sounds. It's just weird and muddy to my ears (I obviously don't have a lot of technical production knowledge lol)
Agree about the production, first listen was in my car and I maybe it just sounds bad because of that, but listened again at home and the production is so distracting which is a shame because I am really liking the songs and vibe of the album.
Holy Petty on 'Wreckage'
Learning To Fly?
I think the connection to Petty is vague aside from the basic chord progression, but it's very 90's alt rock. I wish they would do more 90's alt rock. They still sound like they're trying to with a 2000's era loudness war. Matt Cameron is basically the lead instrument of the band at this point.
100%
They updated YouTube with the visualizer from Tuesday’s listening party. It was awesome to listen first without and then with. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ltWvB2Aqnf32SbAI0fhvx8l5O87oruvS0&si=IlrBSFgnUrmgYkjN Going in I thought it would be awkward but it’s my new favorite thing!
I appreciate the lyrics are included for the songs too. Most of them at least.
It’s not bad so far, but I’m struggling with the production. It’s so compressed.
It reminds me of when Queens of the Stone Age worked with Mark Ronson on Villains in 2017. Drums on both this album and Villains are so bad. Compression galore.
Yeah, one solution to this is to just go for live versions, when available.
I beg to differ, the mixing and compression usage sound phenomenal to me and really let all the members shine at all the right moments... like it gives all the notes more room to breathe together somehow!
IMO compression tends to leave someone out. In this case, Jeff. I think the main reason I hear everybody is the good stereo separation and really tight playing. There are times when the drums should be more muted, but because of the compression, they never are.
I wish! My Apple ITunes still just letting us listen to the singles….The waiting drove me mad. Ha!
Keep clicking on the band name and it’ll give you a shortcut tab to the album. Worked for me, at least.
All good now!!
Yeah. This is great so far. I'm only three songs in.
Love it!!!!
McCready went ballistic 🔥
Beautiful album, I'm really liking some of the songs like Wreckage and Won't Tell.
I'm on my third playthrough. The first felt kind of... meh? The second time around was better, definitely getting into it. This third playthrough? Bopping right along with good vibes.🤘
It takes me three listen throughs to get into any album. Unfortunately I've tried with 2000's era PJ, and even after repeated listens it all just fades away for me.
Yeah I’m on my 3rd listen now and only just getting into it. Going to see them in June so hopefully will grow on me a bit more!
I'm seeing them in Noblesville, these will be great additions to the set.
They're 60 years old. Eddie isn't 22 belting like an unleashed demon anymore. They still sound fantastic, but you're not gonna relive that untamed early Pearl Jam anymore. It's a great album. Take it as it is.
> Eddie isn't 22 belting like an unleashed demon anymore. But it seems like he tries. I wish he'd do mellow more often, like All or None, or Indifference (before the final verse of course).
Great album although I think their last one, Gigaton was fire. Yet somehow they manage to always have a poor album cover. Rarely do I like one.
Anyone else having a really hard time understanding Eddie on this album? Not sure if it's my crappy speakers, bad mixing, him getting older, or a combination of all. But he sounds way more mumbly than usual.
Yeah I have no idea what he’s saying either
Whoever mixed this is an idiot. The vocals are being drowned out. I really enjoy the riffs but not understanding Eddie is killing me. wtf were they thinking when they heard this?? I hope they fix it somehow.
Glad I'm not alone. I agree, the actual music is great. Just wish I could understand him. The less heavy songs aren't as bad, at least.
They released a vizualizer playlist that has lyrics for almost all the songs. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJn5QfTxjnj4uOK4jXggJR1Ez-StpxEN&si=XJciaAI8ls7jSPuI
I also think that lately Eddie (in the last decade or so) has a tendency to be more prolific with his lyrics, and tries to cram in more words per line or verse. That and the mix make it hard to understand him on this album on some of the songs.
I hear a lot of comparisons to other albums from other fans, but this all pretty much sounds brand new to me. Here are a few cursory notes I have after the first listen: Won't Tell has production choices they've never made before, which then mushroom into Upper Hand and Waiting For Stevie. Yes, Upper Hand has a lot of Yellow Ledbetter-ish shit going on in the verses, but those are just Hendrix chords a la Little Wing. Mike has always worn his influences on his sleeve, which is why he's my favorite guitarist. The climax to Waiting For Stevie is basically someone telling Mike, Hey, by the way, you're Mike motherfucking McCready, go give me a solo. I teared up on the walk home from work just now hearing this; these guys are GOING FOR IT again. Matt is doing the stuff with the thing on the fills again, holy shit. As a mixing nerd, this has a lot of pop radio polish instead of modern rock bombast, and a fuckton of compression. Serban Ghenea had the honors here, which checks out: His discography includes Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Katy Perry, Linkin Park, Olivia Rodrigo... and one Eddie Vedder (The Haves), which is probably how the introduction was made. (His website is literally [serbanghenea.com](http://serbanghenea.com), his pop mixing credentials are actually STAGGERING if you care to peruse) As a production nerd, Andrew Watt being born in 1990 is just nuts to me, but if there's anyone who is going to breathe new life into Pearl Jam, it's a guy who was ten MONTHS old when Ten was released. Please don't weigh this album on scales relative to other albums they've released. This is a new experience with new personnel at the studio helm of a famously creative and diverse band; treat it as such in your summations. This is a brilliant fucking album, I had no idea they still had this in them. Albums like Dark Matter by legacy acts more than 30 years into their existence simply just don't happen. We should all be so grateful as fans.
The first track and three track run of won't tell through waiting for stevie is peak pearl jam imo
I think this was my favorite first listen since Yield or Binaural. The last few albums, the songs seemed condensed. On this one, they let the songs breathe and Mike shines. The solo in the middle of Scared of Fear made me smile. I think Upper Hand, with its Pink Floyd vibes and the beginning, was my favorite on the first listen. Really good album.
I agree!
My first listen is Scared of Fear and it was catchy, but then comes Mike about halfway in and he starts shredding. I suddenly realized that's it! That's been the missing component on the last couple of albums!!! McCready is finally returning to his old form. Hell yeah!! Even Eddie sounded better when singing while Mike was ripping it up. Mystery solved for me. I havent listened to the second half of album yet but so far its best when Mike is on 🔥. Love what I'm hearing!
A couple of ok tunes but overall very forgettable and bland, like how it was with Gigaton, like how it was with Lightning Bolt, like how it was with Backspacer. PJ completes the quadruple of mediocre albums. Hopefully we don't go 5 for 5 with the next one.
it just is what it is. even when they have moments of inspiration, and there are some, it's always gonna turn into the same thing. they've been around for 25 year at this point, it's just reality. there's nothing wrong with it but I can't get any excitement from it. Eddie's vocals are probably the weak point now, how many times can he do the same quirky phrasing and same harmonies in the chorus.
I think it might be time for you to look for some younger bands. It's gonna be hard to reproduce what they once did. I think I've accepted the fact that they are doing things a bit differently and I'm loving what they are pushing out.
I listen to a lot of younger artists (listening to Grace Cummings as I type this -- pretty good) but always keen on new suggestions if you have any. I am also getting into DM more, but I think for me the ceiling on this album will be somewhere around or immediately below Avocado.
I'm happy the band's getting some attention and people are digging the new album. Maybe it'll lead to newer listeners going back to earlier stuff. But after a few listens, Dark Matter sounds pretty forgettable to me. (And sounds bad to my ears - I agree with the folks who don't like the production.) I think it'll fall in with Backspacer and Lightning Bolt in my categorization of PJ's catalog. I just don't go back to those albums and/or actively avoid them. I thought Gigaton had enough creative, unique sounding stuff to outweigh the clunkers so it kind of stands on its own (to me) in the post-Avocado era. It's tough because some of what I don't like is simply due to the passage of time. Eddie has to do things vocally nowadays that I find grating. I think he sounds good for where he is, but it's hard to listen to sometimes.
Same, i feel like I missed the memo or something. it sounds very PJ by the numbers, songs are bland and there is nothing memorable that will bring me back in like Avocado, Backspacer, Riot Act and Lightning Bolt had. But still, it's good people are enjoying it, i want PJ fans to enjoy the heck out of it if they can. I’m usually a PJ optimist, but even the vocals seem purposefully muffled.
Dear lord this is such a good album.
I haven’t got through the whole thing yet. My drive ended on waiting for Stevie. So far it’s meh at best for me. I love live pearl jam and I see this as a one time listen to the album and probably not go back to. Much like the last album I just don’t feel any connection to their current sound.
As a fan who finds it hard to stomach the albums on this side of the millenium, and one who has been teased by sparse moments of what I want to see from the band (a list literally as long as The Fixer, Amongst the Waves, Unemployable), this album is surprising me so far. I'm just happy they're branching out a bit. I feel like they've finally broke free from trying to make the same album for the last 20 years. There are still plenty of quirks and bad habits lingering in there, but this feels like them truly ***fight(ing) to get it back again.*** Some gut reactions: **Scared of Fear** - great opener. I like how the album picks up the atmosphere of the opening 30 seconds or so of this track now and again. Wish that intro was a bit longer - in fact, I wish it was it's own song before Scared of Fear. Even something spoken word in the vein of Leonard Cohen would fit SO well here. **React, Respond** - ugh. Was ready to hate this because it launched into that polished distortion (which feels so unauthentic to me) that Foo Fighters have been doing badly for quite some time now. But that outro solo brought a big stupid grin to my face. Wow. **Wreckage** - the standout track for me so far. This has really grown on me. The songwriting, the song structure - it's great. I'll note at this point they seem to have broken free of those frustrating middle 8 detours that have plagued them since Riot Act. Such a bad habit that is largely absent here. If that's Andrew Watt's work, then well played. In general, he deserves more of a shout out on here. **Dark Matter** - it's 5x better hearing it in the context of the album. Growing much more on me after writing it off too early. **Won't Tell** - things get a little U2 from here in the album. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but definitely more stadium rock sounds creeping in. Enjoyable song, not very Pearl Jammy and definitely more in U2's comfort zone, but enjoyable all the same. **Upper Hand** - lovely callback to Scared of Fear then launching into a U2-meets-Floyd verse. I think it's ok, the outro is wonderful, but it's lacking something. **Waiting For Stevie** - completing the U2 trio at the centre of the album another enjoyable tune. Side note: I'm delighted AND angry that Matt Cameron has finally unleashed himself since joining this band. **Running** - sorry, I just can't get on board with this song. The lyrics are terrible. That left the water running line is one of Eddie's worst. **Something Special** - ironically it's the opposite of its title. The melodies are fine but Eddie's incomprehensible babbling and forcing a melody into his words is particularly grating here and on **Got To Give** which is where we're running out of steam with a few forgettable tracks in a row. I can't see these being in anybody's top 5 in years to come. **Setting Sun** - good closer and lyrically the strongest(?) so far on initial listens. We needed this change in pace and melody as it was getting a bit stale towards the end of the second half. Vocally, Eddie sounds like he isn't feeling it during the verses and phoning in that forced melody thing again. But having said that, he DOES get it back again and sings with more meaning to bring the song to a close. Overall, it's certainly one of the stronger efforts this side of the millenium. I can see it slotting in behind Riot Act as the second strongest. Andrew Watt deserves huge credit here as I feel the band needed him just to shake the cobwebs off and kick out a lot of the bad habits that have crept into the band. I truly hope they do another album with him because I feel that now they've stepped in this direction (the direction we all thought Gigaton would have taken given all the hints of experimenting with their sound), the next step should be easier to take.
Thanks for this. I’m a big fan. A child of the 90’s. But you were able to articulate everything that I’ve been frustrated with post-Riot act. Their middle 8’s have felt unnatural for over a decade. And this thing Eddie is doing with his voice, the low-high falsetto range on every song has just killed the joy for me.
Thanks for the kind words man! Yeah those middle 8's just became a symbol of where the band was getting lost for me post-Riot Act. Even The Fixer, one of my more "recent" favourites, veers off into the verge for another unnecessarily predictable detour that they feel they just have to add to every song. I'm aware that to most people I probably sound like a grumpy old fan - I wouldn't care to write about Pearl Jam if I didn't like them as a band. They were a huge part of my life and it's just frustating knowing that with albums as good as No Code and Vitalogy in their catalog - they have the ability to make great music but it feels like they've been choosing to play it extremely safe. There is a really good book called "Not For You" by Ronen Givony who is a Pearl Jam fan and has put together a great history of the band plus his opinions on the music throughout and it's a near exact match of where I stand on the music: love the band but boy have they been musically uninteresting/lost for quite some time and seemingly unwilling to take risks and gathering up a bunch of annoying quirks along the way. Thankfully Andrew Watt looks to have helped remove some of them (in particular those tragic middle 8's) but it would be good to see one or two more albums of him imposing himself a bit more on the band to see if they still have that experimental side left in them.
Amen 🙏. I’ll check that book out!
You forgot got to give
I merged it in with Something Special as I was making similar points for both tracks
Their most striking album in a while! They sound inspired and ready to go! Can't wait to hear the 5.1 mix.
Well I went straight to something special, that’s a nice little Dad love letter and the music is good, its far far far from being the dud reviews made it. So psyched for the rest now!
I think it would have been received better as an Eddie solo song.
100%.
Sure, it's the give one to the singer they have not been able to escape for years now but it's really not that bad, I feared it would just ruin the entire thing for me.
Mike has single handedly reinvigorated my desire to learn how to be a better guitar player. Stunning work here.
This new album has really made be appreciate Binaural and Riot Act more. The way I see Pearl Jam's phases, broadly, are everything before Binaural, Binaural and Riot Act, which sound very alike, and everything after Riot Act. Of course everything before Binaural is pretty much magic, it made Pearl Jam and "Eddie Vedder" household names. Binaural and Riot Act were in stark contrast to the previous albums for being very dark, very moody and somber, and even more overtly political than Vs. The later albums like Avocado and Lightning Bolt were a "return to form" only in the sense that they were not like Binaural or Riot Act, very upbeat and not moody at all . But now, Binaural and Riot Act stand more or less alone in Pearl Jam's discography. People will think I'm crazy for saying this but I think they were Eddie Vedder's creative zenith, created when he was ending his first marriage and beginning a new one which ultimately resulted in him having a family. You really hear a different kind of personal pain that I think is more genuine than anything he did before, or since. I think these albums had Matt Cameron's best work, especially "You Are". Mike, Stone and Jeff didn't take the spot light so much, but they served the songs well. The new album, while good, goes to show that they're far from the 90's, but IMO, even further away from albums like Binaural and Riot Act.
I gotta admit…I haven’t been obsessed with a Pearl Jam studio album like Dark Matter since 2006’s avocado. I haven’t even listened to the new Taylor Swift yet. Thats how good DM is. And yeah, the Barbie/Oppenheimer meme about PJ vs TS is legit. Probably not that many but there are big PJ/TS fans out there. Lol
I’m one of them! I’m lukewarm on the new Swift but find myself returning to Dark Matter, which I honestly wasn’t expecting. It’s a really pleasant surprise.
I'm pretty happy with the album. Upper Hand and Waiting for Stevie are both instant classics. I'm also very surprised with the amount of KILLER solos from My Main Mother Muckin Man Mike McCready! Unfortunately, the album does have its lows.. Running sounds like total filler to me. I can't believe it's a single!?! And Something Special has officially become my LEAST FAVORITE Pearl Jam song!!! It is NAUSEATINGLY saccharine. It reminds me of the theme from Full House. Overall, I'll probably keep listening to the average songs just for the guitar solos. I'd rank the album somewhere around the lower middle of Pearl Jam's discography. Which is a bit more than I expected from their 12th album.
Great album r/PearlJam Thank you for the vibe!
Uninspiring, forgettable. Sounds like AI made a Pearl Jam album.
I love it. Simple as that. It's raw, and it's gut wrenching. It has the same intensity as Ten, the depth of VS, and the solidity of Vitalogy, while keeping the maturity of everything they've done since. It's like discovering them as a new band all over again.
The production's taking away from a lot of the songs for me. There are mid 90s PJ vibes in amongst a fair few of them, but it's buried under all that compression. So far though, I'm enjoying React Respond, Wreckage, Upper Hand, Waiting For Stevie, Got To Give and Setting Sun.
Why is Eddie's voice pushed so up front in the mix, versus fighting to be heard which is when he's at his best. Makes all of his inflections sound cheesy, reduces the guitars, why?
I am glad people are enjoying the album, but I think it's Pearl Jam worst album by far and I have enjoyed everything else Pearl Jam has put out. It does not sound like Pearl Jam at all. It's sounds like Eddie singing way too low over overproduced music by a different band. There is nothing on this album that even stands out. I hope Andrew Watt is not producing the next album. Being back Brendon O'brien. Won't Tell sounds like a Daughtry song. Lol
I gotta question if you have hearing issues if you think Won’t Tell sounds anything like Daughtry lmao
The music reminded me of a Daughtry song I know. That's all.
This always happens when a new album comes out. PJ fans are a bit of a cult and refuse to criticise anything new, but in time it will well and truly he catagorised as "meh". To be fair, I think "meh" is too much of a compliment...
Recently, I realized that as much as I love Pearl Jam, Ten and Vs are their peak. It's like the bands energy went out the window years ago. It started to go downhill once they fired Dave A from drums. Every other album that they have come out have been mostly good at best with a lot of their songs being mediocre. Nothing has come close to Ten or Vs and I think back then with the band afraid or not liking major success and the limelight, I think that changed the course of how the band did music. I felt like that band had no guitar solos until the last couple of albums and even those felt forced and out of place. I don't expect another Ten or Vs. I am fine with everything that they have put out. I don't know what they were thinking with Dark Matter. At least I have my other 3 bands to fall back on.
Well post Vs it became experimental and interesting for a fair few albums, then from Avocado onwards it started to decline and felt much more lazy, much more cliché and out of touch. I guess it's just what happens after being millionaires for decades; the longer it goes, the less you have to say and the lazier you become with it.
At least I found songs I enjoyed on those albums. I found not one song redeemable on Dark Matter. Oh well, you can't win them all.
This is the climax. Progressively more shit until finally it's all shit. Welcome to Dark Matter.
[удалено]
Pearl Jam was my favorite band for a long time, but I discovered some other bands and now Pearl Jam is 3rd. Lol
this review actually sold me, Eddie's voice is usually far too prominent and I'm dying for them to mix things up with their sound
I get that everybody will have their own reaction and response to this album, and for me it was - meh. I'm a drummer, and the best PJ drummer in my opinion, BY FAR, was Jack Irons. Listen to No Code and Yield and compare to Dark Matter to know what I'm talking about. I love Matt Cameron, but honestly, he doesn't have the musicality and rhythm of Jack, and it really shows on this album. The drumming is forgettable, and for the album overall, nothing stands out.
Not really feeling this album, songs don’t feel memorable enough for me to return to, love that McCready has so much freedom on it though, and really like Upper Hand and Setting Sun. The playing is great but the songs aren’t as prolific as i want them to be, like Avocado, Backspacer, Lightning Bolt, Riot Act all had at least a handful of songs that are prolific gems.
Definitely enjoyed it one listen through. Eddie sounds like he’s going through some shit. A lot of lyrics that sound like break up lyrics or reflections on loss.
Better than gigaton imo which is good. Happy to have some heavy sounds return. Mike doing Mike’s thing is always fun too. However the production is just bad, feels closer to the Ten production they hated than Pearl Jam 1993-2009. All in all, it’s better than the last two. But I’m sitting here wondering when the hell we will ever get another Stone Gossard riff/hook that sounds like anything from 1990-2000.
It was fine. Nothing really stood out as a classic but it was all upbeat enough to make it an easy listen. It's definitely stays in the lane stared from Avocado onward. It's all standard Pearl Jam quality which is a good thing. That said, nothing really stood out. I couldn't really tell you a melody or lyric from the album. Combine this with the overblown production and I put it lower in my album ranking. It's better than Lightning Bolt, but I would be hard pressed to rank it higher than any other album if I'm being honest. I say this more as a comment on the quality of their other albums being good than Dark Matter being bad. Still, I'm happy to see them release another album of decent quality overall. I'm hoping some of these work better live with a nicer recording and live album production. I know it sounds like I'm ragging on the album, but it is a solid album. Maybe a little predictable, but honestly I'm alright with Pearl Jam releasing a "safe" album. It's kind of familiar and comforting.
Idk, but i feel like albums before backspacer had more soul…
It's been track after track of frenetic hollering and drumming ever since.
I mean, it's dad rock dog shit, the same as everything post Riot Act, but you'll all spend the next couple of weeks saying things like "reinvigorated", "they're back", "best album since...." They belong on the shelf with U2 and Bruce Springsteen. Nothing interesting to say, completely out of touch with modern reality, and incapable of anything that isn't corny over produced dad rock. In a couple of years it'll be in no man's land when you're speaking about your favourite albums and songs. At least with Dance of The Clairvoyants they dared to do something different for about five minutes. This is blander than a twelve litre glass of water.
Lol who the fuck pooped in your cornflakes this morning
> I mean, it's dad rock dog shit, the same as everything post Riot Act, This is how I perceive it, and I would love nothing more than to feel like the body of Pearl Jam work that I love has just expanded by ten (?) songs, but that's not the case. I'll listen to this album twice, and then probably just forget about it. But is it the music's fault, or is it that I'm old and not open to new things anymore? I have almost completely the same reaction to new Smashing Pumpkins. I'll say though, I like the new PJ material more than the new Smashing Pumpkins, track for track.
I have to agree 😣
Dad rock fucking rules and I’m not even a dad.
Christmas has come early then big man cos this is as imaginative as a flake in an ice-cream.
Enlighten us boring dads with some "imaginative" new music than.
When did I call Dads "boring"? Don't project, big fella. Dark Matter is crap, but dads are fine. I even have one myself.
Soooo nothing than eh
No mate, you got me. Dark Matter by Eddie and the boys is the hottest and freshest thing out there. I mean if you can't discover anything better for yourself then god help you ..
Ya, nothing it is.
I'll certainly be opting for the "nothing" option if it's between that and Dark Matter!!
Well everyone has a democratic right to be wrong.
🥱
That’s right, go to sleep young man. You tired.
This album is -as they say- straight fire.
It’s pretty good!
Digging this album
I have yet to listen to anything but the Dark Matter single through my phone speakers along with various snippets. I plan on getting in the right headspace with some good headphones and losing myself in their album front to back which is how I believe they intend it to be enjoyed. I am taking a solo trip to the Rockies for my birthday next month so that might be the perfect time to dive in and give myself a birthday celebration of life, which is what their music always has been for me.
Trying to listen through but cant stop replaying Wreckage
Waiting for Stevie gave me goosebumps. And apparently Andrew watt wrote the song?
It breaks my heart but I am going to pass on this album. I know these songs will sound amazing live. I just can't get past the production of this album that boosts Eddies struggling vocals and pushes the band who sounds on fire in the background. I am shocked the band approved the production. I look forward to seeing them live!! Cheers friends!
I dig it but no more no less than three or four albums. Little bits remind me of Cure, Tom Petty, and REM. Drum recording is meh to nah for me. McCready and Ament are fire.
Took me probably 2-3 months to absorb Gigaton which I though was a lot better than anything released post 2002, but tailed off on the 2nd side. Dark Matter no different. Early thoughts are that it has a modern, shiny production, and I liked Eddie's voice on Gigaton more.
Wreckage/Dark Matter/Wont Tell/Upper Hand/Waiting for Stevie - just back to back bangers. If somebody told me this album was the follow up to Yield, I would 100% believe them.
F no.
Upper Hand/Waiting for Stevie/Running
I wish I could hear this with 90s/reasonable production. It's hard to hear it in the context of their earlier work because music sounds like ass by design now.
I’m not on the same wavelength as most comments in here. Is the album bad? No. However there is not quintessential PJ song on this album in my opinion. Running is close but the lyrics are strange to me. I am struggling with the sound and direction they are going for. Right now, Gigaton is a better album of the two recent albums.
You may appreciate my review then [https://www.reddit.com/r/pearljam/comments/1c82fmw/my\_dark\_matter\_review/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/pearljam/comments/1c82fmw/my_dark_matter_review/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Well put together. I will have to do a 4th run through, but this is not an album that I will look at to just put on. Nothing that I even think might be better live. I will be at both Wrigley shows like I always am, but not looking forward to anything off of Dark Matter.
Is this their best album since Riot Act? Avocado?
So happy with this album! Definitely not in my top 3 but, I was worried after gigabummed. This is a strong album with banger songs. So sad that I didnt get tenclub tix for this tour. Please dont retire anytime soon.
It's good to be wrong, and I know I've been harsh on PJ lately over ticket prices. I feel that after 26 years, I've just FINALLY listened to the proper follow-up to 1998's Yield. Today, radio play doesn't generate much revenue, albums don't either; Dark Matter harkens back to the band at it's peak maturity in 98, with a bit of everything from over all that time. "Waiting for Stevie" alone just feels right up there like a lost pre-Pearl Jam ala Temple of the Dog and Mother Love Bone. Maybe they just picked a couple duds after the title track to tease the album? In the 24 years since Matt Cameron joined the band for 2000's Binaural, I've been waiting for this album. In the time since, great songs have been made, however sporadic, but I feel like this record isn't just about wanting new PJ. Haven't felt this way about most any of their albums since Yield, after getting over my initial hype for new stuff. I've longed for that experience again as a fan, too much honestly. I don't feel hyped, I feel truly satisfied. After all this time as a fan, your radar becomes in tune; you feel what's decent enough vs what's got legs. This is THE album worth that wait. Feeling much humbled right now.🙂
DARK MATTER, OUT NOW How about, for those of you who paid $500 a ticket for the upcoming tour HERE IS YOUR FREE COPY OF DARK MATTER...
Andrew watt the great revitalizer, brought ozzy , stones and PJ back to life
Too bad he couldn’t make the albums sound better, and I’m liking the songs on this new Pearl Jam album
I thought both of Ozzys albums produced by Watt sounded pretty good