It kicks off with a giant emotional bang: “We used to chuckle/We used to sing/We used to bounce/We used to consider,” Eddie Vedder sings on “Petrified of Worry,” the rocking opener from Pearl Jam’s twelfth studio album, one among their finest and most private data ever. When it got here time to work on their follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton, band members headed out to Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu and labored with versatile producer Andrew Watt, who helmed Vedder’s 2022 solo album, Earthling, and has labored with everybody from Iggy Pop to pop superstars like Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, and Submit Malone.
Gigaton was a Trump-era assertion that confirmed how properly PJ may maintain their trademark anger feeling contemporary and related near 30 years after they started their run. However right here, the band has principally traded the prolonged, politically charged grunge of Gigaton for one thing slightly extra introspective, susceptible, and sometimes, surprisingly poppy. After greater than three a long time within the sport, listed here are middle-aged males grappling with life and making an attempt to make sense of all of it — one anthemic refrain and seething guitar solo at a time.
“We’re nonetheless searching for methods to speak,” Vedder advised listeners at an L.A. preview of the brand new tracks. “We’re presently in our lives when you can do it or you can not do it, however we nonetheless care about placing one thing on the market that’s significant, and we hopefully suppose is our greatest work. No hyperbole, I believe that is our greatest work.”
Darkish Matter is jam-packed with fist-pumping rockers, beautiful songwriting, and melodies tailored to be shouted with the home windows down. Heavy-hitting thrasher “React, Reply” retains the momentum at full blast, with punchy guitars and head-banging percussion that just about combusts as Vedder delivers a maniacal, virtually Ozzy Osbourne-size chuckle earlier than the music even considers releasing its grip. The band launched followers to the brand new undertaking with two lead singles: the thrilling title observe and the two-minute punk banger “Working.”
However Darkish Matter shines brightest in its most restrained moments. Take the heartbreaking spotlight “Wreckage,” a laid-back stunner full with empathetic, Springsteen-inspired vocals, and lyrics that appear to be about holding on to a fading relationship. “Combing by way of the wreckage/Pouring by way of the sand/Surrounded by the remnants/What we may and couldn’t have,” Vedder sings.
The U2-like pop shock of “Received’t Inform” would possibly make longtime followers do a double-take — one of many group’s catchiest cuts in ages, with radio-friendly hooks, a young Vedder vocal, euphorically shimmering guitar licks, and golden bridge. The slow-burner “Higher Hand” sounds prefer it might be a newly recovered ballad the band would possibly’ve recorded again within the Nineties, however now with a heavier dose of knowledge. The observe reaches a fiery conclusion as Vedder belts “Assist to hold me hooooooome” over one among Mike McCready’s many bracing guitar solos and Matt Cameron’s explosive percussion.
“One thing Particular” is a candy, easygoing rock lullaby with traces like “If you happen to may see what I see now/You gotta know I’m wanting up, oh so proud/The one I used to carry is oh so particular.” Then comes “Acquired to Give,” which opens with peaceable acoustic strumming earlier than it kicks into a correct uptempo Who-esque send-off. “Let’s get to the purpose we will consider that we’re higher collectively, you and me,” Vedder pleads, reaching his breaking level and able to transfer ahead because the music swells round him. “Can tackle anybody/If you happen to can see/One thing’s received to present.”
Darkish Matter ends on a meditative be aware with “Setting Solar,” a hopeful, transcendently beautiful nightcap that feels just like the band took a drive down from Shangri-La on the finish of the day to sit down within the sand, and mirror for some time as they watch the waves crash alongside the PCH. “Could our days be lengthy till kingdom come,” Vedder howls. “We are able to grow to be one final setting solar/Am I the one one hanging on?/We may grow to be one final setting solar/Or be the solar on the break of daybreak/Allow us to not fade/Allow us to not fade.” However with Darkish Matter, the band has not often sounded extra important.
