Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[blueviper]

Also,

YOU CAN BE LOVED BY EVERYONE
AND NOT FEEL, NOT FEEL LOVE

YOU CAN BE TOLD BY EVERYONE
AND NOT HEAR A WORD FROM ABOVE

SWALLOWED UP BY THE SOUND
CUTTING HOLES IN THE CLOUDS
FINDS HERSELF IN THE SONG
HEARS HER OWN VOICE RISING

YOU CAN BE LOVED BY EVERYONE
AND STILL NOT FEEL, NOT FEEL LOVE

YOU CAN RELATE, BUT STILL CAN'T STOP
OR CONQUER THE FEAR YOU ARE WHAT YOU'RE NOT

WOULD HAVE TO TAKE AN ACT OF FAITH
TO FIND RELIEF, AND ESCAPE THE BLAME

WORDS FOLLOW HER DOWN
NEEDS TO SHAKE EM OFF NOW
THIS GODFORSAKEN TOWN
DON'T DESERVE HER ANYHOW

CALLING ON A MESSENGER
AWAITING ON A FACE
THAT SHE COULD TRUST, A MESSENGER
FOR HER LOVE, HER LOVE

YOU CAN BE LOVED BY EVERYONE
AND NOT FEEL, FEEL LOVE

YOU CAN BE TOLD TO NOT GIVE UP
AND STILL NOT HEAR A WORD FROM ABOVE

YOU CAN'T TAKE, OR GIVE WHAT YOU GOT
DISSOLVE THE FEAR YOU ARE WHAT YOU'RE NOT

YOU CAN BE LOVED BY EVERYONE
AND NOT FEEL, FEEL LOVE

YOU CAN BE LOVED, YOU CAN BE LOVE.


These are the best lyrics on the album. I am entering into the running for Eddie's best set of lyrics ever, as a totality from start to finish.

Yes, you hear this song starting and it gets you pumped up, then the first words you hear are “you can be loved by everyone, and not feel loved” and you know you are going for a 5 star ride.

[Ms Harmless]

stip have you gone from "this is fine" to "this is great!" on Waiting for Stevie in like half an hour?

[BootsToAsses]

On Setting Sun is it Stone playing that little lick that goes into the second part full band jam? I absolutely LOVE it.

Every song has a little musical moment or Ed delivery that floors me and keeps me coming back. I'm blown away.

[stip]

stip have you gone from "this is fine" to "this is great!" on Waiting for Stevie in like half an hour?

that was tongue in cheek. I am running out of ways to gush about this song, but I will promise to leave nothing on the table

[Ms Harmless]

stip have you gone from "this is fine" to "this is great!" on Waiting for Stevie in like half an hour?

that was tongue in cheek. I am running out of ways to gush about this song, but I will promise to leave nothing on the table

[VinylGuy]

Just finish Stip´s review and holy shit, that was so fucking good and intense buddy!! You totally nailed it. Very evocative of what it feels to be around for a long time not only in like, life, but also as a PJ fan.

Thank you sir

[stip]

Also,

YOU CAN BE LOVED BY EVERYONE
AND NOT FEEL, NOT FEEL LOVE

YOU CAN BE TOLD BY EVERYONE
AND NOT HEAR A WORD FROM ABOVE

SWALLOWED UP BY THE SOUND
CUTTING HOLES IN THE CLOUDS
FINDS HERSELF IN THE SONG
HEARS HER OWN VOICE RISING

YOU CAN BE LOVED BY EVERYONE
AND STILL NOT FEEL, NOT FEEL LOVE

YOU CAN RELATE, BUT STILL CAN'T STOP
OR CONQUER THE FEAR YOU ARE WHAT YOU'RE NOT

WOULD HAVE TO TAKE AN ACT OF FAITH
TO FIND RELIEF, AND ESCAPE THE BLAME

WORDS FOLLOW HER DOWN
NEEDS TO SHAKE EM OFF NOW
THIS GODFORSAKEN TOWN
DON'T DESERVE HER ANYHOW

CALLING ON A MESSENGER
AWAITING ON A FACE
THAT SHE COULD TRUST, A MESSENGER
FOR HER LOVE, HER LOVE

YOU CAN BE LOVED BY EVERYONE
AND NOT FEEL, FEEL LOVE

YOU CAN BE TOLD TO NOT GIVE UP
AND STILL NOT HEAR A WORD FROM ABOVE

YOU CAN'T TAKE, OR GIVE WHAT YOU GOT
DISSOLVE THE FEAR YOU ARE WHAT YOU'RE NOT

YOU CAN BE LOVED BY EVERYONE
AND NOT FEEL, FEEL LOVE

YOU CAN BE LOVED, YOU CAN BE LOVE.


These are the best lyrics on the album. I am entering into the running for Eddie's best set of lyrics ever, as a totality from start to finish.

Yes, you hear this song starting and it gets you pumped up, then the first words you hear are “you can be loved by everyone, and not feel loved” and you know you are going for a 5 star ride.

I mean, what an opening line. And with the delivery.

[VinylGuy]

I still feel as if Dark Matter and Gigaton do completely different things very well (and not so well) and are complimentary sides of Pearl Jam; I wouldn't want one without the other; Gigaton brought back some of the cerebral "seriousness" I'd been missing since Riot Act, but Dark Matter is a vast, vast improvement of the "pop" template they attempted in BS and LB (so surely their best pop album of all time -- that's where "best ever" comes into the conversations for me), making me much less worried about any future pop-leaning endeavours; they've nailed it, but I've needed both albums to convince me that my favourite band can still do near enough everything I loved them for

yeah i agree with this...also feels like Gigaton might had the ¨darkness¨ more in the music while DM has it almost exclusively in the lyrics, so it seems.
I need to really dive into them in the next listen, so far its been an emotional ride just because im listening to the music.

[stip]

Just finish Stip´s review and holy shit, that was so fucking good and intense buddy!! You totally nailed it. Very evocative of what it feels to be around for a long time not only in like, life, but also as a PJ fan.

Thank you sir

Thank you for reading it It did turn into a lot of talking about what it means to be a fan in this moment, but right now that is indistinguishable from the experience of the record (for me)

[VinylGuy]

Just finish Stip´s review and holy shit, that was so fucking good and intense buddy!! You totally nailed it. Very evocative of what it feels to be around for a long time not only in like, life, but also as a PJ fan.

Thank you sir

Thank you for reading it It did turn into a lot of talking about what it means to be a fan in this moment, but right now that is indistinguishable from the experience of the record (for me)

of course, as it should be!

Its really interesting to me that a lot of young folks i know who love the album seem to really like the same things i do but for different reasons and without the baggage of being a fan for a long time.

For example, they love Waiting For Stevie but they dont know about Breathe.

[stip]

Running - this visualizer sucks. It's probably the most kinetic song on the album and it looks like a fireplace simulator.

However, this song only keeps going up for me, and it's weird because it got plenty of plays when I only had two songs to listen to. Besides the energy and the really good music (they made the punk guitar part the bedrock for cool things to happen over rather than put it front and center) it helps that Eddie treated the lyrics seriously. They are playful, but it's not Big Wave or Supersonic.

Who Ever Said vs. Scared of Fear - I'll give this a tie. SOF is the better overall listen. But WES has higher highs
Superblood Wolfmoon vs. React/Respond - giving this to Superblood
Dance of the Clarivoyants vs. Wreckage - it's Dance, but Wreckage is a song to watch
Dark Matter vs. Quick Escape - it's Dark Matter, but barely.
Alright vs. Won't Tell - tie
Upper Hand vs. Seven O'Clock - tie. Still too much to process. Honestly, Seven OClock is so dense that part of me still feels like I'm unpacking elements of that one.
Never Destination vs. Waiting for Stevie - It's Waiting for Stevie, and it's the presence of a song like this, that moves beyond the star system (gigaton has 3 5 star songs for me, and a few songs that are within spitting distance) into something categorically other that lifts the rest of the record by virtue of its presence.
Take the Long Way vs. Running -Running. If Take the Long Way had different lyrics, and also Jeff, I might feel differently.

[Ms Harmless]

the Running visualiser looks like PowerPoint, terrible; it absolutely hurt the song's release imo

[stip]

I think they took down the Visualizer for Something Special. I can't find it I was looking forward to it after Harmless plugged it.

Another song that grows on each listen. There's such a 'people who enjoy playing music together playing music together' vibe to it. And it's catchy as hell. And I have a read on the lyrics I like.

Tough call with Buckle Up, which is the more interesting song, and probably aiming for something more complex in its messaging and themes (at least based on my read). And like Something Special it's a generational hand off song. But if something is close, I'm going to err on the side of joy.

Bonus points to Gigaton for having A, an extra song and B, that extra song being Comes Then Goes. I'm going to use that to negate the 'does the album have waiting for stevie' points that Dark Matter gets.


Who Ever Said vs. Scared of Fear - I'll give this a tie. SOF is the better overall listen. But WES has higher highs
Superblood Wolfmoon vs. React/Respond - giving this to Superblood
Dance of the Clarivoyants vs. Wreckage - it's Dance, but Wreckage is a song to watch
Dark Matter vs. Quick Escape - it's Dark Matter, but barely.
Alright vs. Won't Tell - tie
Upper Hand vs. Seven O'Clock - tie. Still too much to process. Honestly, Seven OClock is so dense that part of me still feels like I'm unpacking elements of that one.
Never Destination vs. Waiting for Stevie - It's Waiting for Stevie, and it's the presence of a song like this, that moves beyond the star system (gigaton has 3 5 star songs for me, and a few songs that are within spitting distance) into something categorically other that lifts the rest of the record by virtue of its presence.
Take the Long Way vs. Running -Running. If Take the Long Way had different lyrics, and also Jeff, I might feel differently.
Buckle Up vs. Something Special - Something Special, but barely
Comes Than Goes vs. Nothing - Comes Than Goes, but it's a clean win

[Monkey_Driven]

Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week? Do they know if you're ok?

[stip]

Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week?

I think they're all still alive?

[WaitingForBluey]

On Setting Sun is it Stone playing that little lick that goes into the second part full band jam? I absolutely LOVE it.

My favorite part, I wait for it every time, so tasty. I assume it's Stone but also a possibility that it could be Watt. I read somewhere that he wrote that outro riff? (Not confirmed, someone posted it here)

[RockPusher]

Stip, don't take this the wrong way, but have you spent time with your family this week?

I think they're all still alive?

Did you just make a Pearl Jam reference without meaning to make a Pearl Jam reference?

[BootsToAsses]

On Setting Sun is it Stone playing that little lick that goes into the second part full band jam? I absolutely LOVE it.

My favorite part, I wait for it every time, so tasty. I assume it's Stone but also a possibility that it could be Watt. I read somewhere that he wrote that outro riff? (Not confirmed, someone posted it here)

It's such a perfect little segue into the end jam session - so simple but fills me with joy.

[mattyv1908]

Waiting for Stevie, from the second it begins, it basically liquid catharsis. It's like they said 'what if the bridge of breath' but the whole song. 'what if the final two minutes of Alive, but the whole song.' 'What if the bridge of Corduory, but the whole song?'

And they fucking pull it off. And while it is still early days, I have listened to this song a LOT, and at least one in three times I start tearing up again. There are times I start full on crying, as it finds something else to pull out of me. I just can't get over how huge this song is, how encompassing, how much it invites you to just let everything go, how much it reaches in and just pulls shit out of you, in an act of joy. This song just finds that liminal moment between where things are not okay and then they are, plants a flag, and will not be moved.

And it is every second of the song. There is actually no build to this song. There's barely a bridge. There is no real distinction between chorus and verse. It is just THAT moment, for five glorious minutes.

I’m glad you’re enjoying this song. The first time I heard it I wanted to get out of it what you are, but this the most skippable song on the album for me because it seems like they/someone is trying to bring back a sound that doesn’t exist anymore in the band as they’ve matured beyond their infancy that was Ten. This is the epitome of trying to make another Alive or Breath for the sake of it. It feels forced.

Now Setting Sun in contrast reaches that same cathartic release in a completely natural way for a band that been around as long as they have. This is the Alive or Breath through 30+ years of life and maturity taking place.

It seems there’s a fair amount of people who are connecting to Waiting for Stevie because it’s taking them back to a point in their lives when the aforementioned songs evoked the same reactions. I personally don’t want to be taken back in a nostalgic way, I want to be met in the present with that same feeling. Where Waiting for Stevie feels like a facsimile, Setting Sun feels authentic.

[stip]

Got To Give - nice visualizer, though I don't know that it captures the spikey energy of the song. It goes in circles and this is a song of peaks.

I really like this one, but it hasn't fully unlocked for me yet. It's very good, but it is doing everything I like in Pearl Jam songs and we just haven't fully touched. I like all its component parts, and it really struck on me on this listen like a response to/inversion of In Hiding - in terms of lyrics. Almost in terms of energy.

Never noticed the "We are all heard and seen" lyric in that final build. Eddie really nails that finale. The Who vibes are starting to get more prominent than the Springsteen influences, which are more prevalent in the opening verses but start to fade.

So like Won't Tell and Upper Hand, it's very good, and clearly there are more connections to be made. The pieces to make them are all present. So that'll be something to look forward to.

Retrograde grew on me a lot. There's something relaxing and unhurried about that song (something I also like in Sirens), and both songs have really powerful endings. Retrogrades may have hit a little harder, but that's in part because 75% of the songs on Dark Matter have an exciting climax. And Retrograde is a mid tier gigaton track (on an album where every song is good).

Gonna call this a tie

Who Ever Said vs. Scared of Fear - I'll give this a tie. SOF is the better overall listen. But WES has higher highs
Superblood Wolfmoon vs. React/Respond - giving this to Superblood
Dance of the Clarivoyants vs. Wreckage - it's Dance, but Wreckage is a song to watch
Dark Matter vs. Quick Escape - it's Dark Matter, but barely.
Alright vs. Won't Tell - tie
Upper Hand vs. Seven O'Clock - tie. Still too much to process. Honestly, Seven OClock is so dense that part of me still feels like I'm unpacking elements of that one.
Never Destination vs. Waiting for Stevie - It's Waiting for Stevie, and it's the presence of a song like this, that moves beyond the star system (gigaton has 3 5 star songs for me, and a few songs that are within spitting distance) into something categorically other that lifts the rest of the record by virtue of its presence.
Take the Long Way vs. Running -Running. If Take the Long Way had different lyrics, and also Jeff, I might feel differently.
Buckle Up vs. Something Special - Something Special, but barely
Comes Than Goes vs. Nothing - Comes Than Goes, but it's a clean win
Retrograde vs. Got to Give - Tie, but Got to Give has room