Gigaton Album Review

Pearl Jam, one of the most popular bands in the nineties, arguably the only
Grunge band that crossed over into classic rock and after the passing of Cobain,
Cornell, Staley, and Weiland, Eddie Vedder remains the last Grunge lead singer
alive, and they are the last band still currently making music or touring from that
class, and they are still going strong. Their new album, Gigaton, brings up topics
that are very current and problematic in our culture, including Donald Trump and
his effectiveness in office, global warming, and more.

The first song on the album, Who Ever Said, written by Vedder, is a callback to
albums like Ten and Vitalogy, getting any original Pearl Jam excited for what’s to
come. With a hard-hitting chorus and synth lead post-chorus the song does not
disappoint.

The second song, Superblood Wolfmoon, written by Vedder, once again, has
tendencies of early Pearl Jam, but with a Post-Punk twist, but still pleasing to OG
fans. The verses and choruses are very strong, and the solo is one of McCready’s
best in a while.

Now we come to Dance of the Clairvoyants, the first single released in January,
written by the whole band. This synth-lead, Talking Heads inspired song was a
curveball to put out as a single, leaving everybody questioning what the new
album was gonna sound like. It is an incredible song, heavy enough for original
listeners but different enough for new listeners and may even draw some synth
pop or new wave fans.

Quick Escape, written by Ament, closes out the first four heavy hitters. With
possibly, the best chorus and riff of any song on the album. Vedder even surprises
us with a little falsetto, a rare occurrence on Pearl Jam records.
The next song, Alright, again written by Ament, is the first of many slow songs on
the album. This mellower, keys-lead hymn-like song, may have predicted the
shelter-in-place order due to coronavirus “It's alright, to shut it down. Disappear
in thin air, it's your home. It's alright, to be alone. To listen for a heartbeat, it's
your own”

Seven O’Clock, the next song written by the whole band, rounds out the first side
of the album. This mellower, southern-rock inspired song, takes a few digs at
Trump calling him “sitting bullshit,” a play on words of Native American leader,
Sitting Bull. The whole song builds up to the bridge, adding different layers of
orchestration as it goes on, where Vedder pulls out his falsetto once again.

The side two opener, Never Destination, is another Ten-like song, written by
Vedder. Again, another great McCready solo, put over a tight groove. The bridge,
whether purposely or accidentally, pays tribute to Tom Petty, by using the vocal
melody from “Listen to Her Heart.”

Never Destination, written by Cameron, may be the biggest dud on the album but
still great. This song is most definitely a drummer’s song, with drum shredding
throughout, and is in 7/8. The song might even be a call back to Cameron’s former
band Soundgarden, and, for the first time in PJ history, features a girl singing
backgrounds.

Next, we have the weirdest, but still enjoyable Buckle Up. This song was written
by Gossard, who was once the principle song writer in the band and would be a
great lullaby to sing to your baby to introduce them to your favorite band. Do I
hear a poor attempt at mouth brass?? We’ll never know.

Then, Comes then Goes, performed and written solely by Eddie Vedder. Is this his
tribute to Chris Cornell? It sounds as it could be. This very heartfelt song is
definitely one of the highlights of the album. And can only be described as Simon
and Garfunkel if they went southern.

After that, the McCready penned, Retrograde, another softer song, is very nature
oriented “Seven seas are raising, Forever futures fading out” possibly talking
about glaciers melting, like the album cover depicts. The song builds to Vedder’s
very psychedelic screaming and the end.

The final song on Gigaton, River Cross is a somber pump-organ lead hymn, written
by Vedder. It starts just Eddie Vedder singing a playing the pump organ but builds
using bass lines and thundering drums in the backgrounds to Vedder proclaiming
“Won’t hold us down,” a phrase that everybody needs to hear these days.

This is all-together a pretty strong album even though, normally at this point in a
bands career they start to decline and just have the same material over and over
again, but Pearl Jam continues to experiment and prove that they can do more
than they originally showed. It is a very experimental album, but it all works out, it
has stuff for everybody, longtime fans, new fans, new wave fans, punk fans,
southern rock fans, and more.

I would give this album a 9/10.