It has been a long seven-year wait for Pearl Jam fans. Their last outing, Lightning Bolt was probably one of their weakest albums as well. Being a huge fan of Backspacer I was fairly disappointed with Lightning Bolt. 

But once I heard there would be a new album this year I was super excited.

They teased us with two new songs. Dance Of The Clairvoyants and Superblood Wolfmoon. Both a bit of a step away from the older style rock numbers. Dance particularly had some interesting sounds. The more I listened to it the better it got. But that being said I was wondering what direction they were going with this album. 

From the opening riff of Who Ever Said I was hooked. What a lovely grungy sounding palm-muted old school pearl jam noise. Already this was better than their last album. 

Musically the album will keep Pearl Jam fans happy. It sounds more like their 90s material than anything they have put out in a long time. Even the more experimental songs slip in nicely. Buckle Up is a great example of this. The album goes from heavy rock songs to slower tempo tracks as the album progresses, then ending with a beautiful sounding pump organ song, River Cross. The guitar work is wonderful, this can be really seen with the solo in Take The Long Way. They also have a great acoustic ballad in the mix, Comes Then Goes, which I was delighted with as their slower acoustic sounding album Riot Act is my favourite. 

Eddie has never been shy to mention politics in his music. The already mentioned Riot Act is a perfect example of this. As this is their first album in Trump Era America, he doesn’t get left alone. Eddie takes some clear shots at him, like in the rocking number Quick Escape. Here Eddie tells us of his voyages “to find a place Trump hadn’t fucked up yet”. He then calls Trump “sitting bullshit” on the track Seven O’Clock as he tells of America being forged by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. 

As any fan of Pearl Jam will tell their live shows are second to none. Gigaton has some fantastic songs on it, which will make amazing additions to their already huge backlog of hits. Personally, I can’t wait to see what they decided to play. I found myself dancing along to Dance Of The Clairvoyants in the shower (yeap I dance in the shower) so I can’t wait to hear that live and dance along with thousands of others. 

This album is one that I can’t wait to pick up on vinyl and give a spin through my stereo. I’d even say it gives my favourite Riot Act a run for its money. 

–Darryn