Released: 2013
Genres: Alternative Rock, Hard Rock
The Musiquarium’s Lightning Bolt Review Score: 3/5
Released four years after their last album Backspacer, and two years after the PJ20 tour and documentary, Lightning Bolt finds the Seattle legends making more of the music that they love to make.
Getaway is no Once or Go, but it’s still a decent opener for an album 20+ years into the band’s career. Lead single, Mind Your Manners is a punk-tinged song, similar to their 1994, grammy-winning song, Spin the Black Circle. The second single, Sirens, is a ballad with pianos, an instrument not often associated with PJ.
Lightning Bolt is your typical post nineties Pearl Jam album, with plenty of bloat, but nothing below average. The band still knows how to rock, but they could have cut out a third of the album and honed-in on the remaining songs.
For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Pearl Jam on Discogs.
Back to the 2013 Album Guide or the Pearl Jam Reviews page.
Written by Brett Nippard