Album Review: Pearl Jam – Dark Matter

By Jonah Cashel, Copy Editor

[Monkey Wrench; 2024]

Rating: 4/10

Key Tracks: “Upper Hand”, “Running”, “Got to Give”

Early 90s’ Grunge staples Pearl Jam’s discography is as timeless as the genre itself. It’s hard to imagine a summer without a backdrop of Eddie Vedder’s wailing vocals over tracks like “Yellow Ledbetter”,” Better Man”, and “Even Flow” (of recent internet virality accompanying skate 3 edits featuring Jesus). However, it is even harder to come to terms with the fact that these legends are aging fast, and that spark they had 30 years ago may have faded. With the release of the band’s 12th studio album, Dark Matter, it may be time to ask the question: When do we let the fire go out?

In his late 20s, Vedder was at the forefront of a new genre of rock, alongside bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden, that captured the uncertainty of a generation at the end of the millennium. Now, Pearl Jam is one of the few surviving bands of the era that continues to bear the proverbial torch of Grunge, but the flame is beginning to flicker. While still fully capable of wailing about the pitfalls of love and society, and with arguably some of the highest quality production they’ve had, Dark Matter still falls short of Pearl Jam’s early albums.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what isn’t hitting about this record. Vedder’s unique voice is still going strong, and the instrumentals aren’t necessarily worse, but — even with nostalgia goggles set aside — this album just feels hollow in comparison to their previous work. It could be that with new producer Andrew Watt, known for working with artists like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, what was once at the forefront of alternative music has been tinged with the sound of stale, over-commercialized pop. In that sense, this album isn’t all that different from blink-182’s 2019 record Nine, also produced by Watt, which was just an absolute disgrace. However, Dark Matter isn’t trying nearly as hard to fit into a more modern sound. At its core, this record stays true to the sound of Pearl Jam as best it can.

There may just be something about modern production that doesn’t mesh with Grunge as a genre. On the first track, “Scared Of Fear”, you can clearly hear every word Vedder is saying, which just feels wrong for a Pearl Jam song. Grunge, like Hardcore Punk before it, is supposed to be dirty and, at times, borderline unintelligible. It’s just part of the charm of the genre, and hearing every word and every instrument come through the mix crystal clear just doesn’t do the trick. The first five tracks on the record sound largely the same; overproduced and emotionally flat. Even the title track, “Dark Matter”, while railing on some vague anti-establishment message, fails to stand out from the sea of corporate rock bands whose sole mission is to get your dad more fired up about whatever it is he read on Facebook that day.

It really is a shame how suppressed this album feels considering that, lyrically, a lot of the songs are not bad. The lyrics “How you are like the sun hiding somewhere beyond the rain / I’m needing for the light, stormy is the gray” on “Wreckage”, while somewhat derivative, are reminiscent of the pure poetry on songs like “Black”. However, sonically, this song is incredibly bland. Then there’s a song like “Upper Hand”, one of the better songs on the record, where the sound actually has some depth but there are maybe four lines of lyrics that have any emotional weight.

Overall, Dark Matter is certainly not the worst rock album I’ve heard (did I mention blink-182’s Nine?) but it’s also nothing special. For diehard fans, there might be a few songs worth adding to the library, but nothing that compares to their previous work. It’s not entirely unlistenable, but like the veneers on an actor who aged out of their type-cast, it’s just a shiny new cover on the same old worn-out lines.

Listen here:

ACRN.COM