The Seattle grunge scene will forever be an important place part of music history. The big four of grunge, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, became a gateway for many in the 90’s to rock and metal. There have been discussions growing overtime on which band was the best of those four and which was the worst. The answer often comes down to perspective, opinion, and longevity. In my opinion Pearl Jam has been the clear choice for the weakest out of the three. Like the other three they have a record that has stood the test of time for being great, Ten, but it never stood toe-to-toe with records like In Utero, Superunknown, Dirt, and other amazing records from the other three. After Vs. they began going slowly downhill with each record showing less and less care towards trying to impress listeners and delivering refreshing or at least revamped versions of their established style. Their last record Lightning Bolt was the first in more than a decade that showed them putting in some effort and delivering some solid rock jams. It wasn’t groundbreaking or anything, but it did show that Pearl Jam wasn’t as dried up creatively as they seemed. I became hopeful that their 2020 return, Gigaton, would potentially keep moving in that direction, but instead they’re back to where they were.

Pearl Jam has been a very safe rock group after their first two records including Lightning Bolt. Rather than pushing their sound into new territory they’ve decided to stick close to the radio rock mold focusing on common guitar riffs and solos along with formulaic structures often set up with a verse-chorus-verse-solo-chorus pattern with few variations. This would be fine if the songs were exciting and interesting, but more often than not they felt watered down and generic. Gigaton remains this way being one of Pearl Jam’s blandest record. So many instrumentals feel like 90’s clichés from the descending three note bassline muffled out by the rapid playing of the same two guitar chords on “Who Ever Said” to the tedious “Alright” that slowly meanders with consistent drumming and muted pianos with the occasional scratchy guitar note peaking through. “Superblood Wolfmoon” is especially boring sounding like every arena rock song ever with guitars starting the song reminiscent of 90’s pop punk riffs.

The only track that is remotely fun to me is “Never Destination” for its more adventurous guitar solos placed throughout the track and Eddie Vedder’s energetic vocals. Outside of this track Vedder’s vocals are as rough as ever. Sure he’s never had vocals that anyone would dare to call clean, but the gritty timbre in his voice that fit Pearl Jam’s grungiest albums and the rougher production throughout the years are so exhausted on Gigaton. It adds a sleepy layer to songs that are otherwise fast and meant to get you moving. Here and there he does switch up his vocal performances to add some flare like the brief growls ending the verses of “Superblood Wolfmoon” and the falsettos on the chorus of “Quick Escape”, but both feel incredibly forced making them jarring between their performances and placements. There is also “Dance of the Clairvoyants” which is a track that should never exist where Pearl Jam fuses their style with the funky and post-punk influences of Talking Heads. The whole thing feels scattershot again not helped by Eddie Vedder this time giving his most rigid performance while ramping up his vibrato to obnoxious levels of grumbling.

Up until this point on Gigaton most of the lyrics have dealt with a variety of one-dimensional subjects of apocalyptic futures and a variety of metaphors that are only tackled at a surface level. Near the backend of the record Pearl Jam shifts to slower and ballad-like tracks. This has resulted in some of their best songs in the past including personal favorites of mine “Black” and “Jeremy”. The lyrics had more room to shine often being a brutal gut-punch of emotions. The tracks off of Gigaton though are way softer and do not retain the viscera of the previously mentioned two. Still we get some great lyrical moments. “Retrograde” discusses watching the world around you change with some beautiful guitar tones that balance being colorful and somber and swell into an epic conclusion. The closer “River Cross” is the most emotional piece off of Gigaton that has Eddie Vedder reminiscing on how he expected to be gone by now but he has pushed through and survived all the hardships he faced. It’s also the one track that I love his tired vocals in because they fit the topic of growing old and holding on as long as possible. For the other softer tracks like “Seven O’Clock” they don’t work as well because of the motifs presented – in this case freedom not being full freedom which deserves more aggression and more maturity unlike a line like “Then you got Sitting Bullshit as our sitting president”.

Even though I said Pearl Jam is my least favorite of the big four of grunge, I still have a good amount of respect for them. All four bands paved way for a new genre that acted as an opening for many to discover rock within the alternative labels and even gave light to the enjoyability of heavier sounds like metal. It’s just incredibly disappointing to watch Pearl Jam slowly lose their edge throughout their career. Gigaton acts as another misstep late in their career and a sign that they should have cut their career early to retain their legacy like many other artists have done. I think the only thing keeping them going are radio rock fans that eat up riff-oriented rock. It’s a shame, but that’s the music industry.

Favorite Tracks: “Never Destination”; “Retrograde”; “River Cross”

Rating: 4/10

Released: 03/27/2020

Label: Monkeywrench Records & Republic Records

Genres: Rock, Grunge

Remember this is all my opinion and I would like to hear yours. Love it, hate it, anyways I can improve on my presentation? Make sure to subscribe to the blog by WordPress or email to receive notifications of new reviews that come up. Who knows, you could find a gem you otherwise would have missed. And of course, keep being a music nerd!

RATING SCALE

Perfect Excellent Great Very Good Good Meh Disappointing Bad Horrible Pitiful Bottom of the Barrel