Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[mikejasond]

Hm you guys see setting sun and scared of fear about Cornell ? I guess it’s not impossible. But the bits about not being able to heal lost love and Eddie feeling like he’s the only one trying ?

[stip]

It's crazy how polarizing this album is with everyone. I'm still saying best since Yeild.

its really just been like 3 people who have been down on this. this is, even accounting for out the gate recency, the most positive reception ive see a new pearl jam album have here.

that does not say anything about long term reception, obviously

[Rob]

Hm you guys see setting sun and scared of fear about Cornell ? I guess it’s not impossible. But the bits about not being able to heal lost love and Eddie feeling like he’s the only one trying ?

I just feel more like Cornell permeates the whole thing in a way. It’s still about Ed and life I assume.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[stip]

The recording is obviously not good but

I bet most of you guys blow right past a sentence like this as if it’s not indicative of artistic intentions

I don’t think they intended this to be an iPhone recording of it playing on a speaker.

Obviously they did, Rob!

[Rob]

The recording is obviously not good but

I bet most of you guys blow right past a sentence like this as if it’s not indicative of artistic intentions

I don’t think they intended this to be an iPhone recording of it playing on a speaker.

Also, doesn’t your argument boil down to a half of fame level rock band, with a producer who has worked with the best artists, doing bad work? And as a choice? I’m not sure I’m buying this. Maybe you just don’t like it.

[Vindicator]

I urge everyone to hold their final thoughts until heard with headphones a few times properly. The movie theater audio is trash

I'm tentatively giving it 4 stars. It has its moments of greatness, but still have my frustrations. Overall though, every song is solid, and they rectified the thing I hated about Gigaton (word salad)

[unLEASHed]

all of the songs are about chris cornell

This has occurred to me, as well. There is a Cornell presence on this. The recording is obviously not good but one of the outtros (WFS?) has what sounds like a Cornell-like howl by Eddie that got me thinking about it.

I actually think its not about Cornell per se, i think its about all the lost comrades. There is a connection about Scared of Fear and Setting Sun, “we had our own scene” - “Am I the only one hanging on”, there are other lyrics that support this but I dont remember them correctly.

I think he framed it all through the album from another perspective…some feeling of sorrow and a wish they would be there (here, at this point in time) with him. Thats my take on it…

[dad]

The recording is obviously not good but

I bet most of you guys blow right past a sentence like this as if it’s not indicative of artistic intentions

I don’t think they intended this to be an iPhone recording of it playing on a speaker.

Obviously they did, Rob!

[unLEASHed]

I urge everyone to hold their final thoughts until heard with headphones a few times properly. The movie theater audio is trash

I'm tentatively giving it 4 stars. It has its moments of greatness, but still have my frustrations. Overall though, every song is solid, and they rectified the thing I hated about Gigaton (word salad)

I think i heard the guitars better from the listening party leaks.

[Romanza]

My buddy said the same. He’s a huge Pearl Jam fan but otherwise a pretty conventional white dad music fan — Wilco, KoL, etc. Said Ed’s lyrics are the worst part.

I actually really like KOL and defend them post-Because of the Times, but c'mon...

"I walk a mile in your shoes
And now I'm a mile away
And I've got your shoes"

Vedder hasn't ever done anything that bad. Not even Can't Deny Me is that bad.

[Rob]

all of the songs are about chris cornell

This has occurred to me, as well. There is a Cornell presence on this. The recording is obviously not good but one of the outtros (WFS?) has what sounds like a Cornell-like howl by Eddie that got me thinking about it.

I actually think its not about Cornell per se, i think its about all the lost comrades. There is a connection about Scared of Fear and Setting Sun, “we had our own scene” - “Am I the only one hanging on”, there are other lyrics that support this but I dont remember them correctly.

I think he framed it all through the album from another perspective…some feeling of sorrow and a wish they would be there (here, at this point in time) with him. Thats my take on it…

I like this.

[DrSelker]

Back from the cinema, and I'm kinda with B on my views. There's some very good songs (Dark Matter, Stevie, Something Special, Wreckage), but I was expecting a lot more from the way the band conveyed the recording process and the reactions to the leaks here, but I think it's barely better than my low tier (LB, RA, Binaural) and it's got nothing on Gigaton, which I spent the day listening. Nothing sounds exactly like shit, but it's a very glossy sound akin to some moments from BS, LB and, of course, Earthling. Can't wait for Friday to put it on my headphones and appreciate it properly! The movie theater experience was incredible, but hearing it twice certainly fatigued my ears in such a short time.

Regarding the possible breakup, I thought the same thing as soon as the lyrics started rolling. It does sound like he's gone through a breakup, and it's made more poignant by the way he uses "we" on Something Special (which I don't remember him using before), like he and Jill are telling the kids that even though their family life is changing, they should rest assured they're still loved just as much. I think it gives a whole different spin to the song. All I genuinely care is that if it did happen that he and the family are alright and moving on since he has given me (and lots of others) so much joy.

[stip]

i havent started paying attention to lyrics but id assume the songs are informed more by a sende of mortality and finality and legacy rather than a breakup. but again, thats an inuition

[Vindicator]

I urge everyone to hold their final thoughts until heard with headphones a few times properly. The movie theater audio is trash

I'm tentatively giving it 4 stars. It has its moments of greatness, but still have my frustrations. Overall though, every song is solid, and they rectified the thing I hated about Gigaton (word salad)

I think i heard the guitars better from the listening party leaks.

This is 100% true. The person next to me agreed that we couldn't hear the guitars from the leaks. Even the noodly guitar on Running was totally drowned out. The vocals at the end of waiting for Stevie were also completely inaudible. The plinky guitars of react Respond were inaudible.

Trust me, theres a lot of production layers here that will be revealed with headphones

[VinylGuy]

It's crazy how polarizing this album is with everyone. I'm still saying best since Yeild.

its really just been like 3 people who have been down on this. this is, even accounting for out the gate recency, the most positive reception ive see a new pearl jam album have here.

that does not say anything about long term reception, obviously

yeah, Gigaton had a very positive reaction but i dont remember a new PJ that got so many people that happy with its release

[stip]

that’s disappointing

[brisk]

Honestly don't know why people are so obsessed with attaching Chris Cornell. Every show in the last 5 years Ed mentions at least 2 people who have died somewhere in the world.

[DDWJMUVW]

That was Dolby atmos? Sounded like the record was played in a can holy fuck.

[mikejasond]

It’s possible he’s framing things like the loss of others or mortality through the lens of a breakup. It would be an interesting device. It was just jarring because I just don’t recall him writing about that and I think there are like near half the songs in the album that seem to be about that or evoking it. I could be being too literal but Setting Sun seemed almost like a Black-esque meaning but from a heartbroken older man instead of an angsty young man