Pearl Jam – Dark Matter

I am a minor Pearl Jam fan. When it came to Seattle grunge, I was a Soundgarden guy. That being said, the first three Pearl Jam albums (10 from 1991, Vs. from 1993, and Vitalogy from 1994) were great. I faithfully bought every studio album after those three, but they never hooked me. Then, in 2020, Gigaton came out, and I loved it. Now comes Dark Matter, which is as good as anything in their catalog. Producer Andrew Watt is the new Rick Rubin – a legend whisperer. He resuscitated the Stones on Hackney Diamonds (2023) and Ozzy Osborne on Patient Number 9 (2022). Pearl Jam was not dead, given the quality of Gigaton, but Dark Matter is even better than Gigaton – a late-career masterpiece.

Per guitarist Mike McCready, the band went back to their hard-rocking roots, saying the album is “a lot heavier than you’d expect.” He went on to say:

“We worked with Andrew Watt, who’s a younger pop producer-type guy, but he’s really a rock guy at heart — I think we’re his favorite band. When we were in the studio with him this past year, he really kicked our asses, got us focused, and playing, song after song. It took a long time to make Gigaton, but this new one didn’t take long. Andrew was like: ‘You guys take forever to make records. Let’s do this, right now.'” He added: “Andrew pushed us to play as hard, melodic and thoughtfully as we’ve done in a long time. I feel like Matt Cameron’s drumming has elements of what he did in Soundgarden.”

The album is guitar-heavy, and Eddie Vedder’s vocals are outstanding. “Wreckage” is the band’s take on heartland rock—a highly accessible single. If you are a fan of early Pearl Jam and they have dropped off your radar, Dark Matter is a good reason to revisit the band.

Available in high-rez on streaming services (24-bit/48 kHz).